Abstract: NIST is using atomically precise fabrication to develop electronic devices for use in quantum information processing, quantum materials research and quantum sensing. We are using hydrogen-based scanning probe lithography to enable deterministic placement of individual dopant atoms with atomically aligned contacts and gates to fabricate single electron transistors, single atom transistors, few-donor/quantum dot devices for spin manipulation, and arrayed few-donor devices for quantum materials and analog quantum simulation research. We have developed robust lithography, device relocation, and contact processes that enable routine electrical measurement of atomically precise devices with an emphasis on atom-scale control of the device geometry.
In addition to our fabrication technology, I will discuss the characterization of atomic-scale tunnel junctions and single electron transistors that demonstrate stable coulomb blockade oscillations with charge offset drift of 0.007e per day. I will present measurements of tunnel coupling in single electron transistors and donor-dot devices where the tunnel gap is controlled at the atomic scale as well as measurements and modeling of single and few atom transistors that display large electron addition energies, consistent with single or few dopant atom charging energies.
We have recently extended our STM-patterning to fabricate coupled arrays of few atom clusters having multiple donors per dot, including a functional 3×3 quantum dot array device. Using the Si(100)2x1 surface reconstruction as an atomic ruler, we design the separation between nearest neighbor dots to be in the regime from weakly coupled to strongly coupled. We are analyzing the tunnel couplings and energy spectra in individual dots versus across an array of coupled dots to explore the rich physics of dot-arrays.
Bio: Richard Silver is a physicist leading the atom-based silicon quantum electronics effort at NIST. His research focusses on fabrication, design, and measurement of atom-based Si structures that rely on single or few atoms, precisely placed within an epitaxial silicon environment for solid state quantum computing and analog quantum simulation. He received his bachelors in physics from the University of California at Berkeley and his PhD in physics from University of Texas at Austin. He is an adjunct professor with the physics department at the University of Maryland, College Park.