No Arabic abstract
Continued dimensional scaling of semiconductor devices has driven information technology into vastly diverse applications. As the size of devices approaches fundamental limits, metrology techniques with nanometre resolution and three-dimensional (3D) capabilities are desired for device optimisation. For example, the performance of an ultra-scaled transistor can be strongly influenced by the local electric field and strain. Here we study the spectral response of single erbium ions to applied electric field and strain in a silicon ultra-scaled transistor. Stark shifts induced by both the overall electric field and the local charge environment are observed. Further, changes in strain smaller than $3times 10^{-6}$ are detected, which is around two orders of magnitude more sensitive than the standard techniques used in the semiconductor industry. These results open new possibilities for non-destructive 3D mapping of the local strain and electric field in the channel of ultra-scaled transistors, using the single erbium ions as ultra-sensitive atomic probes.
Rare-earth ion ensembles doped in single crystals are a promising materials system with widespread applications in optical signal processing, lasing, and quantum information processing. Incorporating rare-earth ions into integrated photonic devices could enable compact lasers and modulators, as well as on-chip optical quantum memories for classical and quantum optical applications. To this end, a thin film single crystalline wafer structure that is compatible with planar fabrication of integrated photonic devices would be highly desirable. However, incorporating rare-earth ions into a thin film form-factor while preserving their optical properties has proven challenging. We demonstrate an integrated photonic platform for rare-earth ions doped in a single crystalline thin film on insulator. The thin film is composed of lithium niobate doped with Tm3+. The ions in the thin film exhibit optical lifetimes identical to those measured in bulk crystals. We show narrow spectral holes in a thin film waveguide that require up to 2 orders of magnitude lower power to generate than previously reported bulk waveguides. Our results pave way for scalable on-chip lasers, optical signal processing devices, and integrated optical quantum memories.
We report the development of nanowire field-effect transistors featuring an ultra-thin parylene film as a polymer gate insulator. The room temperature, gas-phase deposition of parylene is an attractive alternative to oxide insulators prepared at high temperatures using atomic layer deposition. We discuss our custom-built parylene deposition system, which is designed for reliable and controlled deposition of <100 nm thick parylene films on III-V nanowires standing vertically on a growth substrate or horizontally on a device substrate. The former case gives conformally-coated nanowires, which we used to produce functional $Omega$-gate and gate-all-around structures. These give sub-threshold swings as low as 140 mV/dec and on/off ratios exceeding $10^3$ at room temperature. For the gate-all-around structure, we developed a novel fabrication strategy that overcomes some of the limitations with previous lateral wrap-gate nanowire transistors. Finally, we show that parylene can be deposited over chemically-treated nanowire surfaces; a feature generally not possible with oxides produced by atomic layer deposition due to the surface `self-cleaning effect. Our results highlight the potential for parylene as an alternative ultra-thin insulator in nanoscale electronic devices more broadly, with potential applications extending into nanobioelectronics due to parylenes well-established biocompatible properties.
We demonstrate optical probing of spectrally resolved single Nd rare-earth ions in yttrium orthovanadate. The ions are coupled to a photonic crystal resonator and show strong enhancement of the optical emission rate via the Purcell effect, resulting in near radiatively limited single photon emission. The measured high coupling cooperativity between a single photon and the ion allows for the observation of coherent optical Rabi oscillations. This could enable optically controlled spin qubits, quantum logic gates, and spin-photon interfaces for future quantum networks.
Rare-earth-doped crystals are excellent hardware for quantum storage of optical information. Additional functionality of these materials is added by their waveguiding properties allowing for on-chip photonic networks. However, detection and coherent properties of rare-earth single-spin qubits have not been demonstrated so far. Here, we present experimental results on high-fidelity optical initialization, effcient coherent manipulation, and optical readout of a single electron spin of Ce$^{3+}$ ion in a YAG crystal. Under dynamic decoupling, spin coherence lifetime reaches $T_2$=2 ms and is almost limited by the measured spin-lattice relaxation time $T_1$=3.8 ms. Strong hyperfine coupling to aluminium nuclear spins suggests that cerium electron spins can be exploited as an interface between photons and long-lived nuclear spin memory. Combined with high brightness of Ce$^{3+}$ emission and a possibility of creating photonic circuits out of the host material, this makes cerium spins an interesting option for integrated quantum photonics.
Controlled atomic scale fabrication of functional devices is one of the holy grails of nanotechnology. The most promising class of techniques that enable deterministic nanodevice fabrication are based on scanning probe patterning or surface assembly. However, this typically involves a complex process flow, stringent requirements for an ultra high vacuum environment, long fabrication times and, consequently, limited throughput and device yield. Here, a device platform is developed that overcomes these limitations by integrating scanning probe based dopant device fabrication with a CMOS-compatible process flow. Silicon on insulator substrates are used featuring a reconstructed Si(001):H surface that is protected by a capping chip and has pre-implanted contacts ready for scanning tunneling microscope (STM) patterning. Processing in ultra-high vacuum is thus reduced to only a few critical steps which minimizes the complexity, time and effort required for fabrication of the nanoscale dopant devices. Subsequent reintegration of the samples into the CMOS process flow not only simplifies the post-processing but also opens the door to successful application of STM based dopant devices as a building block in more complex device architectures. Full functionality of this approach is demonstrated with magnetotransport measurements on degenerately doped STM patterned Si:P nanowires up to room temperature.