Device variability of Josephson junctions induced by interface roughness
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.03037 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 3 Feb 2026] Title:Device variability of Josephson junctions induced by interface roughness Authors:Yu Zhu, Félix Beaudoin, Hong Guo View a PDF of the paper titled Device variability of Josephson junctions induced by interface roughness, by Yu Zhu and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:As quantum processors scale to large qubit numbers, device-to-device variability emerges as a critical challenge. Superconducting qubits are commonly realized using Al/AlO$_{\text{x}}$/Al Josephson junctions operating in the tunneling regime, where even minor variations in device geometry can lead to substantial performance fluctuations. In this work, we develop a quantitative model for the variability of the Josephson energy $E_{J}$ induced by interface roughness at the Al/AlO$_{\text{x}}$ interfaces. The roughness is modeled as a Gaussian random field characterized by two parameters: the root-mean-square roughness amplitude $\sigma $ and the transverse correlation length $\xi $. These parameters are extracted from the literature and molecular dynamics simulations. Quantum transport is treated using the Ambegaokar--Baratoff relation combined with a local thickness approximation. Numerical simulations over $5,000$ Josephson junctions show that $E_{J}$ follows a log-normal distribution. The mean value of $E_{J}$ increases with $\sigma $ and decreases slightly with $\xi $, while the variance of $E_{J}$ increases with both $\sigma $ and $\xi $. These results paint a quantitative and intuitive picture of Josephson energy variability induced by surface roughness, with direct relevance for junction design. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2602.03037 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.03037v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.03037 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Yu Zhu [view email] [v1] Tue, 3 Feb 2026 03:03:43 UTC (2,227 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Device variability of Josephson junctions induced by interface roughness, by Yu Zhu and 2 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-02 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)