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This paper studies the suppression of superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of ultrathin NbN film. We fabricated epitaxial NbN superconducting thin films of thicknesses ranging from 2.5 to 100 nm on single crystal MgO (100) substrates by dc magnetron sputtering. We performed structure analyses and measured their electric and far infrared properties. The experimental results were compared with several mechanisms of the suppression of superconductivity proposed in the literature, including the weak localization effect, the proximity effect, and quantum size effect (electron wave leakage model). We found that the electron wave leakage model matches best to the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on terahertz (THz) surface impedance measurement of an epitaxial MgB2 thin film using time domain THz spectroscopy. We show that the surface resistance of the MgB2 film is much lower than that of YBa2Cu3O7-δ and copper in the THz range. A linear dependence of the surface reactance on frequency is observed, yielding a penetration depth of about 100 nm at low temperatures. The measurements agree qualitatively with calculations based on impurity scattering in the Born limit. Our results clearly indicate that MgB2 thin films have a great potential for THz electronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]