US Patent 7977668 Multilayer structure with zirconium-oxide tunnel barriers and applications of same

A multilayer structure with zirconium-oxide tunnel barriers. In one embodiment, the multilayer structure includes a first niobium (Nb) layer, a second niobium (Nb) layer, and a plurality of zirconium-oxide tunnel barriers sandwiched between the first niobium (Nb) layer and the second niobium (Nb) layer, wherein the plurality of zirconium-oxide tunnel barriers is formed with N layers of zirconium-oxide, N being an integer greater than 1, and M layers of zirconium, M being an integer no less than N, such that between any two neighboring layers of zirconium-oxide, a layer of zirconium is sandwiched therebetween.