Super‐Schottky and Josephson‐effect devices have been fabricated using niobium on thin silicon membranes; and their dc (I, V) characteristics have been measured. The rugged, reproducible Nb/Si super‐Schottky devices exhibit at 1.9K a non‐optimized sensitivity of 3800 V−1 corresponding to a noise temperature of 3K. The transition from Giaever to Josephson tunneling is observed as the silicon barrier thickness is reduced.