Fabrication of superconducting quantum interference device magnetometers on a glass epoxy polyimide resin substrate with copper terminals

We have developed fabrication technique of superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometers based on Nb/AlAlOx/Nb junctions directly on a glass epoxy polyimide resin substrate, which has copper terminals embedded in advance. The advantage of this method is that no additional substrate and wirebonds are needed for assembly. Compared to conventional SQUID magnetometers, which are assembled with a SQUID chip fabricated on a Si substrate and wirebonding technique, low risk of disconnection can be expected. A directly-coupled multi-loop SQUID magnetometer fabricated with this method has as good noise performance as a SQUID magnetometer with the same design fabricated on a Si wafer. The magnetometer sustained its performance through thermal cycle test 13 times so far. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Guest Editors.