Observation of interface piezoelectricity in superconducting devices on silicon.

Abstract

The development of superconducting quantum processors relies on understanding and mitigating decoherence in superconducting qubits. Piezoelectric coupling contributes to decoherence by mediating energy exchange between microwave photons and acoustic phonons. Although bulk centrosymmetric materials like silicon and sapphire are non-piezoelectric and commonly used as qubit substrates, the lack of centrosymmetry at interfaces may induce piezoelectric losses. This effect was predicted decades ago but never experimentally observed in superconducting devices. Here, we report interface piezoelectricity at aluminum-silicon junctions and demonstrate it as a significant loss channel in superconducting devices. Using aluminum interdigital transducers on silicon, we observe piezoelectric transduction from room to millikelvin temperatures, with an effective electromechanical coupling factor K² ≈ (3 ± 0.4) × 10^-5%, comparable to weakly piezoelectric substrates. Modeling shows this mechanism limits qubit quality factors to Q ~ 10⁴ - 10⁸, depending on surface participation and mode matching. These findings reveal interface piezoelectricity as a major dissipation channel and highlight the need for heterostructure and phononic engineering in next-generation superconducting qubits.