Single intrinsic Josephson junction with double-sided fabrication technique

We make stacks of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) embedded in the bulk of very thin (d <= 100 nm) Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x single crystals. By precisely controlling the etching depth during the double-sided fabrication process, the stacks can be reproducibly tailor-made to be of any microscopic height (0-9 nm < d), i.e., enclosing a specified number of IJJ (0-6), including the important case of a single junction. We discuss reproducible gaplike features in the current-voltage characteristics of the samples at high bias. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.