1,472 research outputs found
Engineered valley-orbit splittings in quantum confined nanostructures in silicon
An important challenge in silicon quantum electronics in the few electron
regime is the potentially small energy gap between the ground and excited
orbital states in 3D quantum confined nanostructures due to the multiple valley
degeneracies of the conduction band present in silicon. Understanding the
"valley-orbit" (VO) gap is essential for silicon qubits, as a large VO gap
prevents leakage of the qubit states into a higher dimensional Hilbert space.
The VO gap varies considerably depending on quantum confinement, and can be
engineered by external electric fields. In this work we investigate VO
splitting experimentally and theoretically in a range of confinement regimes.
We report measurements of the VO splitting in silicon quantum dot and donor
devices through excited state transport spectroscopy. These results are
underpinned by large-scale atomistic tight-binding calculations involving over
1 million atoms to compute VO splittings as functions of electric fields, donor
depths, and surface disorder. The results provide a comprehensive picture of
the range of VO splittings that can be achieved through quantum engineering.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Few-electron quantum dots in III-V ternary alloys: role of fluctuations
We study experimentally the electron transport properties of gated quantum
dots formed in InGaAs/InP and InAsP/InP quantum well structures grown by
chemical-beam epitaxy. For the case of the InGaAs quantum well, quantum dots
form directly underneath narrow gate electrodes due to potential fluctuations.
We measure the Coulomb-blockade diamonds in the few-electron regime of a single
quantum dot and observe photon-assisted tunneling peaks under microwave
irradiation. A singlet-triplet transition at high magnetic field and
Coulomb-blockade effects in the quantum Hall regime are also observed. For the
InAsP quantum well, an incidental triple quantum dot forms also due to
potential fluctuations within a single dot layout. Tunable quadruple points are
observed via transport measurements.Comment: 3.3 pages, 3 figures. Added two new subfigures, new references, and
improved the tex
Detection of charge motion in a non-metallic silicon isolated double quantum dot
As semiconductor device dimensions are reduced to the nanometer scale,
effects of high defect density surfaces on the transport properties become
important to the extent that the metallic character that prevails in large and
highly doped structures is lost and the use of quantum dots for charge sensing
becomes complex. Here we have investigated the mechanism behind the detection
of electron motion inside an electrically isolated double quantum dot that is
capacitively coupled to a single electron transistor, both fabricated from
highly phosphorous doped silicon wafers. Despite, the absence of a direct
charge transfer between the detector and the double dot structure, an efficient
detection is obtained. In particular, unusually large Coulomb peak shifts in
gate voltage are observed. Results are explained in terms of charge
rearrangement and the presence of inelastic cotunneling via states at the
periphery of the single electron transistor dot
Remote capacitive sensing in two-dimension quantum-dot arrays
We investigate gate-defined quantum dots in silicon on insulator nanowire
field-effect transistors fabricated using a foundry-compatible fully-depleted
silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) process. A series of split gates wrapped over the
silicon nanowire naturally produces a bilinear array of quantum
dots along a single nanowire. We begin by studying the capacitive coupling of
quantum dots within such a 22 array, and then show how such couplings
can be extended across two parallel silicon nanowires coupled together by
shared, electrically isolated, 'floating' electrodes. With one quantum dot
operating as a single-electron-box sensor, the floating gate serves to enhance
the charge sensitivity range, enabling it to detect charge state transitions in
a separate silicon nanowire. By comparing measurements from multiple devices we
illustrate the impact of the floating gate by quantifying both the charge
sensitivity decay as a function of dot-sensor separation and configuration
within the dual-nanowire structure.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 35 cites and supplementar
PtSi Clustering In Silicon Probed by Transport Spectroscopy
Metal silicides formed by means of thermal annealing processes are employed
as contact materials in microelectronics. Control of the structure of
silicide/silicon interfaces becomes a critical issue when the device
characteristic size is reduced below a few tens of nanometers. Here we report
on silicide clustering occurring within the channel of PtSi/Si/PtSi Schottky
barrier transistors. This phenomenon is investigated through atomistic
simulations and low-temperature resonant tunneling spectroscopy. Our results
provide evidence for the segregation of a PtSi cluster with a diameter of a few
nanometers from the silicide contact. The cluster acts as metallic quantum dot
giving rise to distinct signatures of quantum transport through its discrete
energy states
Quantum transport through MoS constrictions defined by photodoping
We present a device scheme to explore mesoscopic transport through molybdenum
disulfide (MoS) constrictions using photodoping. The devices are based on
van-der-Waals heterostructures where few-layer MoS flakes are partially
encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and covered by a few-layer
graphene flake to fabricate electrical contacts. Since the as-fabricated
devices are insulating at low temperatures, we use photo-induced remote doping
in the hBN substrate to create free charge carriers in the MoS layer. On
top of the device, we place additional metal structures, which define the shape
of the constriction and act as shadow masks during photodoping of the
underlying MoS/hBN heterostructure. Low temperature two- and four-terminal
transport measurements show evidence of quantum confinement effects.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
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