June 23, 2026 -- Superconducting materials are key components in many quantum technologies, including extremely sensitive detectors, quantum computers and devices that connect different types of quantum systems. One property researchers often want is high kinetic inductance, which helps strengthen interactions between quantum devices and can improve their performance.

In this paper, researchers developed an ultrathin film of titanium nitride with properties that make it especially well suited for quantum applications. The film is only 27 nanometers thick and becomes superconducting at 3.8 kelvin (about minus 269 degrees Celsius). Tests showed that it has very high kinetic inductance and electrical impedance — both desirable characteristics for many quantum devices.

These properties could make it much easier for microwave photons to interact with #qubits or other quantum systems, improving the performance of hybrid quantum devices and highly sensitive sensors. The material also naturally produces effects that are useful for building quantum amplifiers and qubits. Because it remains superconducting at a relatively high temperature compared with some other materials, it could also make future quantum devices easier to operate.

The paper was authored by Juliang Li, Peter S. Barry, Thomas Cecil, Marharyta Lisovenko, Volodymyr Yefremenko, Wang Gensheng, Serhii Kruhlov, Goran Karapetrov and Clarence Chang, who conducted their research at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, Cardiff University, Drexel University and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics.