Controlled electrodeposition of cobalt nanowires using iR compensation and their electron transport properties

Superconducting hybrid structures based on single nanowires are a new type of nanoscale devices with peculiar transport characteristics. Control over the nanowire structure is essential for understanding hybrid electronic phenomena arising in such complex systems. In this work, we report a technique for the fabrication of cobalt nanowires by template-assisted electrodeposition using iR compensation, which allows revealing the fundamental dependence of the preferred direction of nanowire growth on the deposition potential. Long coarse-grained cobalt nanowires with a diameter of 70 nm have been implemented into Nb/Co/Nb hybrid structures. We demonstrate that using electrode fabrication techniques that do not contaminate the surface of the nanowire leads to a high quality of devices with low-resistance interfaces. Low-temperature resistivity of 4.94 ± 0.83 µΩ cm and other transport characteristics of Co nanowires are reported. The absence of long-range superconducting proximity effect for Nb/Co/Nb systems with different nanowire length is discussed.