Origin of mm-submm loss in deposited dielectrics for superconducting astronomical instrumentation

Abstract

Deposited dielectrics with low mm-submm loss will be of great benefit to on-chip superconducting circuits for mm-submm astronomy. Compared with planar chip designs, multilayer structures with deposited dielectrics allow for more compact circuit elements, and eliminate radiation losses at high frequencies. While recently hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide has been demonstrated to exhibit low dielectric losses at mm-submm wavelengths, the origin of the mm-submm loss in hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide remains unknown.

We measured the 270-600 GHz dielectric losses of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide in superconducting microstrip lines. Furthermore, we measured the complex dielectric constant of the hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide in the 3-100 THz range using Fourier transform spectroscopy. We modeled the loss data from 0.27-100 THz using a Maxwell-Helmholtz-Drude dispersion model. Our results demonstrate that phonon modes above 10 THz dominate the mm-submm losses in deposited dielectrics.