We report electron transport measurements of a silicon double dot formed in multi-gated metal-oxide-semiconductor structures with a 15-nm-thick silicon-on-insulator layer. Tunable tunnel coupling enables us to observe an excitation spectrum in weakly coupled dots and an energy level anticrossing in strongly coupled ones. Such a quantum dot molecule with both charge and energy quantization provides the essential prerequisite for future implementation of silicon-based quantum computations.
We report electronic transport on silicon double and triple dots created with the optimized number of two gates. Using silicon nitride spacers two dots in series are created below two top gates overlapping a silicon nanowire. Coupling between dots is controlled by gate voltages. A third dot is created either by combined action of gate voltages or local doping depending on the spacers length. The main characteristics of the triple dot stability diagram are quantitatively fitted.
Transport measurements at cryogenic temperatures through a few electron top gated quantum dot fabricated in a silicon/silicon-germanium heterostructure are reported. Variations in gate voltage induce a transition from an isolated dot toward a dot strongly coupled to the leads. In addition to Coulomb blockade, when the dot is strongly coupled to the leads, we observe the appearance of a zero bias conductance peak due to the Kondo effect. The Kondo peak splits in a magnetic field, and the splitting scales linearly with the applied field. We also observe a transition from pure Coulomb blockade to…
Considering a double-barrier structure formed by a silicon quantum dot covered by natural oxide, we derive simple conditions for the conductance of the dot to become a step-like function of the number of doping atoms inside the dot, with negligible dependence on the actual position of the dopants. The found conditions are feasible in experimentally available structures.
We present a novel reconfigurable metal-oxide-semiconductor multi-gate transistor that can host a quadruple quantum dot in silicon. The device consist of an industrial quadruple-gate silicon nanowire field-effect transistor. Exploiting the corner effect, we study the versatility of the structure in the single quantum dot and the serial double quantum dot regimes and extract the relevant capacitance parameters. We address the fabrication variability of the quadruple-gate approach which, paired with improved silicon fabrication techniques, makes the corner state quantum dot approach a promising …
We report charge sensing measurements on a silicon quantum dot (QD) with a nearby silicon single electron transistor (SET) acting as an electrometer. The devices are electrostatically formed in bulk silicon using surface gates. We show that as an additional electron is added onto the quantum dot, a charge is induced on the SET of approximately 0.2e. These measurements are performed in the many electron regime, where we can count in excess of 20 charge additions onto the quantum dot.
Spins of donor electrons and nuclei in silicon are promising quantum bit (qubit) candidates which combine long coherence times with the fabrication finesse of the silicon nanotechnology industry. We outline a potentially scalable spin qubit architecture where donor nuclear and electron spins are coupled to spins of electrons in quantum dots and discuss requirements for donor placement aligned to quantum dots by single ion implantation.
We report charge sensing measurements of a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot using a single-electron transistor as a charge sensor with dynamic feedback control. Using digitallycontrolled feedback, the sensor exhibits sensitive and robust detection of the charge state of the quantum dot, even in the presence of charge drifts and random charge rearrangements. The sensor enables the occupancy of the quantum dot to be probed down to the single electron level.
We describe important considerations to create top-down fabricated planar quantum dots in silicon, often not discussed in detail in literature. The subtle interplay between intrinsic material properties, interfaces and fabrication processes plays a crucial role in the formation of electrostatically defined quantum dots. Processes such as oxidation, physical vapor deposition and atomic-layer deposition must be tailored in order to prevent unwanted side effects such as defects, disorder and dewetting. In two directly related manuscripts written in parallel we use techniques described in this wor…
We report electrical measurements of a single arsenic dopant atom in the tunnel-barrier of a silicon SET. As well as performing electrical characterization of the individual dopant, we study series electrical transport through the dopant and SET. We measure the triple points of this hybrid double dot, using simulations to support our results, and show that we can tune the electrostatic coupling between the two sub-systems.
We report on ambipolar gate-defined quantum dots in silicon on insulator (SOI) nanowires fabricated using a customised complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. The ambipolarity was achieved by extending a gate over an intrinsic silicon channel to both highly doped n-type and p-type terminals. We utilise the ability to supply ambipolar carrier reservoirs to the silicon channel to demonstrate an ability to reconfigurably define, with the same electrodes, double quantum dots with either holes or electrons. We use gate-based reflectometry to sense the inter-dot charge transition(IDT…
In this letter we discuss how the short channel behavior in sub 100 nm channel range can be improved by inducing a step surface potential profile at the back gate of an asymmetrical double gate (DG) Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect- Transistor (MOSFET) in which the front gate consists of two materials with different work functions.
We electrically measure intrinsic silicon quantum dots with electrostatically defined tunnel barriers. The presence of both p-type and n-type ohmic contacts enables the accumulation of either electrons or holes. Thus we are able to study both transport regimes within the same device. We investigate the effect of the tunnel barriers and the electrostatically defined quantum dots. There is greater localisation of charge states under the tunnel barriers in the case of hole conduction leading to higher charge noise in the p-regime.
We study the charge transfer dynamics between a silicon quantum dot and an individual phosphorous donor using the conduction through the quantum dot as a probe for the donor ionization state. We use a silicon n-MOSFET (metal oxide field effect transistor) biased near threshold in the SET regime with two side gates to control both the device conductance and the donor charge. Temperature and magnetic field independent tunneling time is measured. We measure the statistics of the transfer of electrons observed when the ground state D0 of the donor is aligned with the SET states.
We report the demonstration of a low-disorder silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (Si MOS) quantum dot containing a tunable number of electrons from zero to N=27. The observed evolution of addition energies with parallel magnetic field reveals the spin filling of electrons into valley-orbit states. We find a splitting of 0.10 meV between the ground and first excited states, consistent with theory and placing a lower bound on the valley splitting. Our results provide optimism for the realization in the near future of spin qubits based on silicon quantum dots.
We describe a planar silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) based single hole transistor, which is compatible with conventional Si CMOS fabrication. A multi-layer gate design gives independent control of the carrier density in the dot and reservoirs. Clear Coulomb blockade oscillations are observed, and source-drain biasing measurements show that it is possible to deplete the dot down to the few hole regime, with excited states clearly visible. The architecture is sufficiently versatile that a second hole dot could be induced adjacent to the first one.
Silicon quantum dots are a leading approach for solid-state quantum bits. However, developing this technology is complicated by the multi-valley nature of silicon. Here we observe transport of individual electrons in a silicon CMOS-based double quantum dot under electron spin resonance. An anticrossing of the driven dot energy levels is observed when the Zeeman and valley splittings coincide. A detected anticrossing splitting of 60 MHz is interpreted as a direct measure of spin and valley mixing, facilitated by spin-orbit interaction in the presence of non-ideal interfaces. A lower bound of sp…
We integrate ambipolar quantum dots in silicon fin field-effect transistors using exclusively standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor fabrication techniques. We realize ambipolarity by replacing conventional highly-doped source and drain electrodes by a metallic nickel silicide with Fermi level close to the silicon mid-gap position. Such devices operate in a dual mode, either as classical field-effect or single-electron transistor. We implement a classical logic NOT gate at low temperature by tuning two interconnected transistors into opposite polarities. In the quantum regime, we dem…
Double quantum dots are convenient solid-state platforms to encode quantum information. Two-electron spin states can be conveniently detected and manipulated using strong quantum selection rules based on the Pauli exclusion principle, leading to the well-know Pauli spin blockade of electron transport for triplet states. Coherent spin states would be optimally preserved in an environment free of nuclear spins, which is achievable in silicon by isotopic purification. Here we report on a deliberately engineered, gate-defined silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor double quantum dot system. The electro…
Silicon-based quantum computing has the potential advantages of low cost, high integration density, and compatibility with CMOS technologies. The detuning mechanism has been used to experimentally achieve silicon two-qubit quantum gates and programmable quantum processors. In this paper, the scaling behaviors and variability issues are explored by numerical device simulations of a model silicon quantum gate based on the detuning mechanism. The device physics of quantum gates modulation, tradeoff between device speed and quantum fidelity, and impact of variability on the implementation of a qua…
We present measurements of resonant tunneling through discrete energy levels of a silicon double quantum dot formed in a thin silicon-on-insulator layer. In the absence of piezoelectric phonon coupling, spontaneous phonon emission with deformation-potential coupling accounts for inelastic tunneling through the ground states of the two dots. Such transport measurements enable us to observe a Pauli spin blockade due to effective two-electron spin-triplet correlations, evident in a distinct bias-polarity dependence of resonant tunneling through the ground states. The blockade is lifted by the exc…
We report on low-temperature electronic transport measurements of a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot, with independent gate control of electron densities in the leads and the quantum dot island. This architecture allows the dot energy levels to be probed without affecting the electron density in the leads, and vice versa. Appropriate gate biasing enables the dot occupancy to be reduced to the single-electron level, as evidenced by magnetospectroscopy measurements of the ground state of the first two charge transitions. Independent gate control of the electron reservoirs also enabl…
Fault-tolerant quantum operation is a key requirement for the development of quantum computing. This has been realized in various solid-state systems including isotopically purified silicon which provides a nuclear spin free environment for the qubits, but not in industry standard natural (unpurified) silicon. Here we demonstrate an addressable fault-tolerant qubit using a natural silicon double quantum dot with a micromagnet optimally designed for fast spin control. This optimized design allows us to achieve the optimum Rabi oscillation quality factor Q = 140 at a Rabi frequency of 10 MHz in …
We present data on the electrical transport properties of highly-doped silicon-on-insulator quantum dots under the effect of pulsed magnetic fields up to 48 T. At low field intensities, B<7 T, we observe a strong modification of the conductance due to the destruction of weak localization whereas at higher fields, where the magnetic field length becomes comparable to the effective Bohr radius of phosphorous in silicon, a strong decrease in conductance is demonstrated. Data in the high and low electric field bias regimes are then compared to show that close to the Coulomb blockade edge magnetica…
Electrical transport in double quantum dots (DQDs) illuminates many interesting features of the dots' carrier states. Recent advances in silicon quantum information technologies have renewed interest in the valley states of electrons confined in silicon. Here we show measurements of DC transport through a mesa-etched silicon double quantum dot. Comparing bias triangles (i.e., regions of allowed current in DQDs) at positive and negative bias voltages we find a systematic asymmetry in the size of the bias triangles at the two bias polarities. Asymmetries of this nature are associated with blocki…
We present an experimental study of the fluctuations of Coulomb blockade peak positions of a quantum dot. The dot is defined by patterning the two-dimensional electron gas of a silicon MOSFET structure using stacked gates. This permits variation of the number of electrons on the quantum dot without significant shape distortion. The ratio of charging energy to single particle energy is considerably larger than in comparable GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots. The statistical distribution of the conductance peak spacings in the Coulomb blockade regime was found to be unimodal and does not follow the Wigne…
We have observed a negative differential conductance with singular gate and source-drain bias dependences in a phosphorus-doped silicon quantum dot. Its origin is discussed within the framework of weak localization. By measuring the current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures as well as simulating the tunneling rates dependences on energy, we demonstrate that the presence of shallow energy defects together with an enhancement of localization satisfactory explain our observations. Effects observed in magnetic fields are also discussed.
Understanding interactions between orbital and valley quantum states in silicon nanodevices is crucial in assessing the prospects of spin-based qubits. We study the energy spectra of a few-electron silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot using dynamic charge sensing and pulsed-voltage spectroscopy. The occupancy of the quantum dot is probed down to the single-electron level using a nearby single-electron transistor as a charge sensor. The energy of the first orbital excited state is found to decrease rapidly as the electron occupancy increases from N=1 to 4. By monitoring the sequential …
A few-electron double quantum dot was fabricated using metal-oxide-semiconductor(MOS)-compatible technology and low-temperature transport measurements were performed to study the energy spectrum of the device. The double dot structure is electrically tunable, enabling the inter-dot coupling to be adjusted over a wide range, as observed in the charge stability diagram. Resonant single-electron tunneling through ground and excited states of the double dot was clearly observed in bias spectroscopy measurements.
The bandstructure of bulk silicon has a six-fold valley degeneracy. Strain in the Si/SiGe quantum well system partially lifts the valley degeneracy, but the materials factors that set the splitting of the two lowest lying valleys are still under intense investigation. We propose a method for accurately determining the valley splitting in Si/SiGe double quantum dots embedded into a superconducting microwave resonator. We show that low lying valley states in the double quantum dot energy level spectrum lead to readily observable features in the cavity transmission. These features generate a "fin…
Two-qubit quantum gates play an essential role in quantum computing, whose operation critically depends on the entanglement between two qubits. Resonantly driven controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates based on silicon double quantum dots (DQDs) are studied theoretically. The physical mechanisms for effective gate modulation of the exchange coupling between two qubits are elucidated. Scaling behaviors of the singlet-triplet energy split, gate-switching speed, and gate fidelity are investigated as a function of the quantum dot spacing and modulation gate voltage. It is shown that the entanglement strength …
We demonstrate the proof of principle for a ternary adder using silicon metal-on-insulator single electron transistors (SET). Gate dependent rectifying behavior of a single electron transistor results in a robust three-valued output as a function of the potential of the SET island. Mapping logical, ternary inputs to the three gates controlling the potential of the SET island allows us to perform complex, inherently ternary operations, on a single transistor.
We experimentally study the transport properties of silicon quantum dots (QDs) fabricated from a highly doped n-type silicon-on-insulator wafer. Low noise electrical measurements using a low temperature complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (LTCMOS) amplifier are performed at 4.2 K in liquid helium. Two series of Coulomb peaks are observed: long-period oscillations and fine structures, and both of them show clear source drain voltage dependence. We also observe two series of Coulomb diamonds having different periodicity. The obtained experimental results are well reproduced by a master equat…
We implement silicon quantum dot devices with two layers of gate electrodes using a self-alignment technique, which allows for ultra-small gate lengths and intrinsically perfect layer-to-layer alignment. In a double quantum dot system, we investigate hole transport and observe current rectification due to Pauli spin blockade. Magnetic field measurements indicate that hole spin relaxation is dominated by spin-orbit interaction, and enable us to determine the effective hole $g$-factor $\simeq1.6$. From an avoided singlet-triplet crossing, occurring at high magnetic field, the spin-orbit coupling…
We investigate the magnetic field and temperature dependence of the single-electron spin lifetime in silicon quantum dots and find a lifetime of 2.8 ms at a temperature of 1.1 K. We develop a model based on spin-valley mixing and find that Johnson noise and two-phonon processes limit relaxation at low and high temperature respectively. We also investigate the effect of temperature on charge noise and find a linear dependence up to 4 K. These results contribute to the understanding of relaxation in silicon quantum dots and are promising for qubit operation at elevated temperatures.
We present transport measurements of a tunable silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor double quantum dot device with lateral geometry. Experimentally extracted gate-to-dot capacitances show that the device is largely symmetric under the gate voltages applied. Intriguingly, these gate voltages themselves are not symmetric. Comparison with numerical simulations indicates that the applied gate voltages serve to offset an intrinsic asymmetry in the physical device. We also show a transition from a large single dot to two well isolated coupled dots, where the central gate of the device is used to contro…
We present a systematic study of various ways (top gates, local doping, substrate bias) to fabricate and tune multi-dot structures in silicon nanowire multigate MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors). The carrier concentration profile of the silicon nanowire is a key parameter to control the formation of tunnel barriers and single-electron islands. It is determined both by the doping profile of the nanowire and by the voltages applied to the top gates and to the substrate. Local doping is achieved with the realisation of up to two arsenic implantation steps in combination…
We investigate by low-temperature transport experiments the sub-threshold behavior of triple-gate silicon field-effect transistors. These three-dimensional nano-scale devices consist of a lithographically defined silicon nanowire surrounded by a gate with an active region as small as a few tens of nanometers, down to 50x60x35 nm^3. Conductance versus gate voltage show Coulomb-blockade oscillations with a large charging energy due to the formation of a small potential well below the gate. According to dependencies on device geometry and thermionic current analysis, we conclude that sub-threshol…
We perform an excited state spectroscopy analysis of a silicon corner dot in a nanowire field-effect transistor to assess the electric field tunability of the valley splitting. First, we demonstrate a back-gate-controlled transition between a single quantum dot and a double quantum dot in parallel that allows tuning the device in to corner dot formation. We find a linear dependence of the valley splitting on back-gate voltage, from $880~μ\text{eV}$ to $610~μ\text{eV}$ with a slope of $-45\pm 3~μ\text{eV/V}$ (or equivalently a slope of $-48\pm 3~μ\text{eV/(MV/m)}$ with respect to the effective …
Considering a double-barrier structure formed by a silicon quantum dot covered by natural oxide with two metallic terminals, we derive simple conditions for a step-like voltage-current curve. Due to standard chemical properties, doping phosphorus atoms located in a certain domain of the dot form geometrically parallel current channels. The height of the current step typically equals to (1.2 pA)N, where N=0,1,2,3... is the number of doping atoms inside the domain, and only negligibly depends on the actual position of the dopants. The found conditions are feasible in experimentally available str…
We report on dual-gate reflectometry in a metal-oxide-semiconductor double-gate silicon transistor operating at low temperature as a double quantum dot device. The reflectometry setup consists of two radio-frequency resonators respectively connected to the two gate electrodes. By simultaneously measuring their dispersive response, we obtain the complete charge stability diagram of the device. Charge transitions between the two quantum dots and between each quantum dot and either the source or the drain contact are detected through phase shifts in the reflected radio-frequency signals. At finit…
We study the optical properties of hydrogen passivated silicon, germanium and mixed Ge/Si core/shell quantum dots (QDs) using high accuracy Density Functional Theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDFT). We employ the hybrid DFT functional of Becke, Lee, Yang and Parr (B3LYP) in combination with good quality basis sets. As we have shown in our previous work, this combination is an accurate and computationally efficient way for such calculations. The mixed quantum dots, as would be expected, are more versatile and offer more possibilities for band gap engineering, with gap values (electronic and…
We report measurements on a silicon nanowire quantum dot with a clarity that allows for a complete understanding of the spin states of the first four holes. First, we show control of the hole number down to one. Detailed measurements at perpendicular magnetic fields reveal the Zeeman splitting of a single hole in silicon. We are able to determine the ground-state spin configuration for one to four holes occupying the quantum dot and find a spin filling with alternating spin-down and spin-up holes, which is confirmed by magnetospectroscopy up to 9T. Additionally, a so far inexplicable feature i…
This paper introduces SiQAD, a computer-aided design tool enabling the rapid design and simulation of atomic silicon dangling bond quantum dot patterns capable of computational logic. Several simulation tools are included, each able to inform the designer on various aspects of their designs: a ground-state electron configuration finder, a non-equilibrium electron dynamics simulator, and an electric potential landscape solver with clocking electrode support. Simulations have been compared against past experimental results to inform the electron population estimation and dynamic behavior. New lo…
We report charge detection in degenerately phosphorus-doped silicon double quantum dots (DQD) electrically connected to an electron reservoir. The sensing device is a single electron transistor (SET) patterned in close proximity to the DQD. Measurements performed at 4.2K show step-like behaviour and shifts of the Coulomb Blockade oscillations in the detector's current as the reservoir's potential is swept. By means of a classical capacitance model, we demonstrate that the observed features can be used to detect single-electron tunnelling from, to and within the DQD, as well as to reveal the DQ…
The electronic structure, specific heat, and thermal conductivity of silicon embedded in a monolayer graphene nanosheet are studied using Density Functional Theory. Two different shapes of the substitutional Si doping in the graphene are studied, a triangular and a dot shape. The silicon doping of a graphene nanosheet, with the silicon atoms arranged in a triangular configuration in ortho- and para-positions, opens up a band gap transforming the sheet to a semiconducting material. The opening of the band gap is caused by the presence of the repulsion force between the silicon and carbon atoms …
We discuss the effects of gigahertz photon irradiation on a degenerately phosphorous-doped silicon quantum dot, in particular, the creation of voltage offsets on gate leads and the tunneling of one or two electrons via Coulomb blockade lifting at 4.2K. A semi-analytical model is derived that explains the main features observed experimentally. Ultimately both effects may provide an efficient way to optically control and operate electrically isolated structures by microwave pulses. In quantum computing architectures, these results may lead to the use of microwave multiplexing to manipulate quant…
The presence of degenerate conduction band valleys and how they are mixed by interfaces play critical roles in determining electron interaction and spectrum in a silicon nanostructure. Here we investigate how the valley phases affect the exchange interaction in a symmetric two-electron silicon double quantum dot. Through a configuration interaction calculation, we find that exchange splitting is suppressed at a finite value of valley phase difference between the two dots, and reaches its minimum value ({\sim} 0) when the phase difference is π. Such a suppression can be explained using the Hubb…
Reliable detection of single electron tunneling in quantum dots (QD) is paramount to use this category of device for quantum information processing. Here, we report charge sensing in a degenerately phosphorus-doped silicon QD by means of a capacitively coupled single-electron tunneling device made of the same material. Besides accurate counting of tunneling events in the QD, we demonstrate that this architecture can be operated to reveal asymmetries in the transport characteristic of the QD. Indeed, the observation of gate voltage shifts in the detector's response as the QD bias is changed is …
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 $2\times n$ bilinear array of quantum dots along a single nanowire. We begin by studying the capacitive coupling of quantum dots within such a 2$\times$2 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…
Electron spin qubits in silicon, whether in quantum dots or in donor atoms, have long been considered attractive qubits for the implementation of a quantum computer due to the semiconductor vacuum character of silicon and its compatibility with the microelectronics industry. While donor electron spins in silicon provide extremely long coherence times and access to the nuclear spin via the hyperfine interaction, quantum dots have the complementary advantages of fast electrical operations, tunability and scalability. Here we present an approach to a novel hybrid double quantum dot by coupling a …
Deterministic control over the location and number of donors is crucial to donor spin quantum bits (qubits) in semiconductor based quantum computing. In this work, a focused ion beam is used to implant antimony donors close to quantum dots. Ion detectors are integrated next to the quantum dots to sense the implants. The numbers of donors implanted can be counted to a precision of a single ion. In low-temperature transport measurements, regular coulomb blockade is observed from the quantum dots. Charge offsets indicative of donor ionization are also observed in devices with counted donor implan…
Many electrical applications of quantum dots rely on capacitively coupled gates; therefore, to make reliable devices we need those gate capacitances to be predictable and reproducible. We demonstrate in silicon nanowire quantum dots that gate capacitances are reproducible to within 10% for nominally identical devices. We demonstrate the experimentally that gate capacitances scale with device dimensions. We also demonstrate that a capacitance simulator can be used to predict measured gate capacitances to within 20%. A simple parallel plate capacitor model can be used to predict how the capacita…
Electronic states in silicon quantum dots are examined theoretically, taking into account a multivalley structure of the conduction band. We find that (i) exchange interaction hardly works between electrons in different valleys. In consequence electrons occupy the lowest level in different valleys in the absence of Hund's coupling when the dot size is less than 10 nm. High-spin states are easily realized by applying a small magnetic field. (ii) When the dot size is much larger, the electron-electron interaction becomes relevant in determining the electronic states. Electrons are accommodated i…
A double quantum dot is formed in a graphene nanoribbon device using three top gates. These gates independently change the number of electrons on each dot and tune the inter-dot coupling. Transport through excited states is observed in the weakly coupled double dot regime. We extract from the measurements all relevant capacitances of the double dot system, as well as the quantized level spacing.
We replace the established aluminium gates for the formation of quantum dots in silicon with gates made from palladium. We study the morphology of both aluminium and palladium gates with transmission electron microscopy. The native aluminium oxide is found to be formed all around the aluminium gates, which could lead to the formation of unintentional dots. Therefore, we report on a novel fabrication route that replaces aluminium and its native oxide by palladium with atomic-layer-deposition-grown aluminium oxide. Using this approach, we show the formation of low-disorder gate-defined quantum d…
We report on the electronic transport properties of multiple-gate devices fabricated from undoped silicon nanowires. Understanding and control of the relevant transport mechanisms was achieved by means of local electrostatic gating and temperature dependent measurements. The roles of the source/drain contacts and of the silicon channel could be independently evaluated and tuned. Wrap gates surrounding the silicide-silicon contact interfaces were proved to be effective in inducing a full suppression of the contact Schottky barriers, thereby enabling carrier injection down to liquid-helium tempe…
Quantum shot noise probes the dynamics of charge transfers through a quantum conductor, reflecting whether quasiparticles flow across the conductor in a steady stream, or in syncopated bursts. We have performed high-sensitivity shot noise measurements in a quantum dot obtained in a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor. The quality of our device allows us to precisely associate the different transport regimes and their statistics with the internal state of the quantum dot. In particular, we report on large current fluctuations in the inelastic cotunneling regime, correspond…
