No Arabic abstract
The high-frequency (ac) conductivity of a high quality modulation doped GeSi/Ge/GeSi single quantum well structure with hole density $p$=6$times$10$^{11}$cm$^{-2}$ was measured by the surface acoustic wave (SAW) technique at frequencies of 30 and 85~MHz and magnetic fields $B$ of up to 18 T in the temperature range of 0.3 -- 5.8 K. The acoustic effects were also measured as a function of the tilt angle of the magnetic field with respect to the normal of the two-dimensional channel at $T$=0.3 K. It is shown, that at the minima of the conductivity oscillations, holes are localized on the Fermi level, and that there is a temperature domain in which the high-frequency conductivity in the bulk of the quantum well is of the activation nature. The analysis of the temperature dependence of the conductivity at odd filling factors enables us to determine the effective $g_z$ factor. It is shown that the in-plane component of the magnetic field leads to an increase of the cyclotron mass and to a reduction of the $g_z$ factor. We developed a microscopic theory of these effects for the heavy-hole states of the complex valence band in quantum wells which describes well the experimental findings.
Recently, lithographic quantum dots in strained-Ge/SiGe have become a promising candidate for quantum computation, with a remarkably quick progression from demonstration of a quantum dot to qubit logic demonstrations. Here we present a measurement of the out-of-plane $g$-factor for single-hole quantum dots in this material. As this is a single-hole measurement, this is the first experimental result that avoids the strong orbital effects present in the out-of-plane configuration. In addition to verifying the expected $g$-factor anisotropy between in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic ($B$)-fields, variations in the $g$-factor dependent on the occupation of the quantum dot are observed. These results are in good agreement with calculations of the $g$-factor using the heavy- and light-hole spaces of the Luttinger Hamiltonian, especially the first two holes, showing a strong spin-orbit coupling and suggesting dramatic $g$-factor tunability through both the $B$-field and the charge state.
We report density-dependent effective hole mass measurements in undoped germanium quantum wells. We are able to span a large range of densities ($2.0-11times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$) in top-gated field effect transistors by positioning the strained buried Ge channel at different depths of 12 and 44 nm from the surface. From the thermal damping of the amplitude of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, we measure a light mass of $0.061m_e$ at a density of $2.2times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$. We confirm the theoretically predicted dependence of increasing mass with density and by extrapolation we find an effective mass of $sim0.05m_e$ at zero density, the lightest effective mass for a planar platform that demonstrated spin qubits in quantum dots.
We report the observation of an electron gas in a SiGe/Si/SiGe quantum well with maximum mobility up to 240 m^2/Vs, which is noticeably higher than previously reported results in silicon-based structures. Using SiO, rather than Al_2O_3, as an insulator, we obtain strongly reduced threshold voltages close to zero. In addition to the predominantly small-angle scattering well known in the high-mobility heterostructures, the observed linear temperature dependence of the conductivity reveals the presence of a short-range random potential.
We report on a strong transport anisotropy in a 2D hole gas in a Ge/SiGe quantum well, which emerges only when both perpendicular and in-plane magnetic fields are present. The ratio of resistances, measured along and perpendicular to the in-plane field, can exceed $3times 10^4$. The anisotropy occurs in a wide range of filling factors where it is determined {em primarily} by the tilt angle. The lack of significant anisotropy without an in-plane field, easy tunability, and persistence to higher temperatures and filling factors set this anisotropy apart from nematic phases in GaAs/AlGaAs.
Silicon crystallized in the usual cubic (diamond) lattice structure has dominated the electronics industry for more than half a century. However, cubic silicon (Si), germanium (Ge) and SiGe-alloys are all indirect bandgap semiconductors that cannot emit light efficiently. Accordingly, achieving efficient light emission from group-IV materials has been a holy grail in silicon technology for decades and, despite tremendous efforts, it has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate efficient light emission from direct bandgap hexagonal Ge and SiGe alloys. We measure a subnanosecond, temperature-insensitive radiative recombination lifetime and observe a similar emission yield to direct bandgap III-V semiconductors. Moreover, we demonstrate how by controlling the composition of the hexagonal SiGe alloy, the emission wavelength can be continuously tuned in a broad range, while preserving a direct bandgap. Our experimental findings are shown to be in excellent quantitative agreement with the ab initio theory. Hexagonal SiGe embodies an ideal material system to fully unite electronic and optoelectronic functionalities on a single chip, opening the way towards novel device concepts and information processing technologies.