Recently, vacancy-related spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) have been demonstrated to be potentially suitable for versatile quantum interface building and scalable quantum network construction. Significant efforts have been undertaken to identify spin systems in SiC and to extend their quantum capabilities using large-scale growth and advanced nanofabrication methods. Here we demonstrated a type of spin defect in the 4H polytype of SiC generated via hydrogen ion implantation with high-temperature post-annealing, which is different from any known defects. These spin defects can be optically addressed and coherently controlled even at room temperature, and their fluorescence spectrum and optically detected magnetic resonance spectra are different from those of any previously discovered defects. Moreover, the generation of these defects can be well controlled by optimizing the annealing temperature after implantation. These defects demonstrate high thermal stability with coherently controlled electron spins, facilitating their application in quantum sensing and masers under harsh conditions.
Single-photon emitting devices have been identified as an important building block for applications in quantum information and quantum communication. They allow to transduce and collect quantum information over a long distance via photons as so called flying qubits. In addition, substrates like silicon carbide provides an excellent material platform for electronic devices. In this work we combine these two features and show that one can drive single photon emitters within a silicon carbide p-i-n-diode. To achieve this, we specifically designed a lateral oriented diode. We find a variety of new…
The photoluminescence and spin properties of ensembles of color centers in silicon carbide are enhanced by fabricating optically isolated slab waveguide structures and carefully controlling annealing and cooling conditions. We find that the photoluminescence signal of an ensemble of implanted defects is enhanced in slab waveguides by an order of magnitude over identically implanted bulk defects. The slab waveguide-enhanced photoluminescence of several defect species is used to study recombination and diffusion in the presence of thermal annealing with both rapid quench cooling and a longer ret…
Defect spins in silicon carbide have become promising platforms with respect to quantum information processing and quantum sensing. Indeed, the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) of defect spins is the cornerstone of the applications. In this work, we systematically investigate the contrast and linewidth of laser-and microwave power-dependent ODMR with respect to ensemble-divacancy spins in silicon carbide at room temperature. The results suggest that magnetic field sensing sensitivity can be improved by a factor of 10 for the optimized laser and microwave power range. The experiment…
Quantum photonics plays a crucial role in the development of novel communication and sensing technologies. Color centers hosted in silicon carbide and diamond offer single photon emission and long coherence spins that can be scalably implemented in quantum networks. We develop systems that integrate these color centers with photonic devices that modify their emission properties through electromagnetically tailored light and matter interaction.
We demonstrate direct, acoustically mediated spin control of naturally occurring negatively charged silicon monovacancies (V$_{Si}^-$) in a high quality factor Lateral Overtone Bulk Acoustic Resonator fabricated out of high purity semi-insulating 4H-Silicon Carbide. We compare the frequency response of silicon monovacancies to a radio-frequency magnetic drive via optically-detected magnetic resonance and the resonator's own radio-frequency acoustic drive via optically-detected spin acoustic resonance and observe a narrowing of the spin transition to nearly the linewidth of the driving acoustic…
Electron excitations at silicon and 3C-SiC surfaces caused by an intense femtosecond laser pulse can be calculated by solving the time-dependent density functional theory and the Maxwell's equation simultaneously. The energy absorption, carrier density, and electron-hole quasi-temperatures decrease exponentially in 100 nm from the surface. The electron and hole quasi-temperatures have finite values even at large distances from the surface because of a specific photo-absorption channel. Although the quasi-temperature in the silicone shows smooth exponential descrease, 3C-SiC shows stepwise decr…
We investigate the optical properties of polycrystalline diamond membranes containing silicon-vacancy (SiV) color centers in combination with other nano-analytical techniques. We analyze the correlation between the Raman signal, the SiV emission, and the background luminescence in the crystalline grains and in the grain boundaries, identifying conditions for the addressability of single SiV centers. Moreover, we perform a scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) analysis, which associates the microscopic structure of the membranes and the evolution of the diamond crystal along the grow…
Three different elements, Silicon, Selenium, and Tellurium, are ion-implanted in Gallium arsenide to form a conducting layer that serves as a back-gate to a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) overgrown two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). While the heavy ion Tellurium creates too many damages in the gallium arsenide to form a conducting layer, both Silicon and Selenium show promising results combined with MBE-grown high-quality 2DEGs. Similar 2DEG mobility compared to non-implanted reference samples is achieved for both Silicon and Selenium implanted structures. Individual contacts to the back-gate …
Thermal transient measurement based on source-drain voltage is a standard method to characterize thermal properties of silicon semiconductors but is doubtful to be directly applied to silicon carbide (SiC) devices. To evaluate its feasibility and limitations, this paper conducts a comprehensive investigation into its accuracy, resolution, and stability towards yielding the structure information of SiC MOSFET using the source-drain voltage as the temperature sensitive electrical parameter. The whole characterization process involves two main procedures and associated key testing parameters, suc…
New silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) of a tailor-made microstructure were produced using the ice-templating technique, which permits controlled pore formation conditions within the material. These prototypes will serve to verify aging of the new advanced target materials under irradiation with proton beams. Before this, the evaluation of their mechanical integrity was made based on the energy deposition spectra produced by FLUKA codes.
Single photon emitters in silicon carbide (SiC) are attracting attention as quantum photonic systems. However, to achieve scalable devices it is essential to generate single photon emitters at desired locations on demand. Here we report the controlled creation of single silicon vacancy ($V_{Si}$) centres in 4H-SiC using laser writing without any post-annealing process. Due to the aberration correction in the writing apparatus and the non-annealing process, we generate single $V_{Si}$ centres with yields up to 30%, located within about 80 nm of the desired position in the transverse plane. We a…
In this work, the thermo-optic coefficient (TOC) of the silicon-rich amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) thin film deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is characterized. We found that the TOC of the film increases as its silicon content increases. A more than three-fold improvement in the TOC is measured, reaching a TOC as high as $1.88 \times 10^{-4} K^{-1}$, which is comparable to that of crystalline silicon. An efficient thermo-optic phase shifter has also been demonstrated by integrating the silicon-rich a-SiC micro-ring structure with a NiCr heater. Its tuning efficiency $…
UV laser annealing (UV-LA) enables surface-localized high-temperature thermal processing to form abrupt junctions in emerging monolithically stacked devices, where applicable thermal budget is restricted. In this work, UV-LA is performed to regrow a SOI layer partially amorphized by arsenic ion implantation and to activate the dopants. In a microsecond scale (~10^-6 s to ~10^-5 s) UV-LA process, monocrystalline solid phase recrystallization and dopant activation without junction deepening is evidenced, thus opening various applications in low thermal budget integration flows.
Silicon carbide (SiC) displays a unique combination of optical and spin-related properties that make it interesting for photonics and quantum technologies. However, guiding light by total internal reflection can be difficult to achieve, especially when SiC is grown as thin films on higher index substrates, like Silicon. Fabricating suspended, subwavelength waveguides requires a single lithography step and offers a solution to the confinement problem, while preserving the design flexibility required for a scalable and complete photonic platform. Here we present a design for such platform, that …
We report on room temperature THz detection by means of antenna-coupled field effect transistors fabricated by using epitaxial graphene grown on silicon carbide substrate. Two independent detection mechanisms are found: plasma wave assisted-detection and thermoelectric effect, which is ascribed to the presence of junctions along the FET channel. The superposition of the calculated functional dependence of both the plasmonic and thermoelectric photovoltages on the gate bias qualitatively well reproduces the measured photovoltages. Additionally, the sign reversal of the measured photovoltage dem…
This paper is a report on Ohmic contacts on n-type and p-type type cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) layers grown on silicon substrates. In particular, the morphological, electrical and structural properties of annealed Ni and Ti/Al/Ni contacts has been studied employing several characterization techniques. Ni films annealed at 950°C form Ohmic contacts on moderately n-type doped 3C-SiC (ND ~ 1x1017cm-3), with a specific contact resistance of 3.7x10-3 Ωcm2. The main phase formed upon annealing in this contact was nickel silicide (Ni2Si), with randomly dispersed carbon in the reacted layer. In the…
Wavelength-sized microdisk resonators were fabricated on a single crystalline 4H-silicon-carbide-oninsulator platform (4H-SiCOI). By carrying out microphotoluminescence measurements at room temperature, we show that the microdisk resonators support whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) with quality factors up to $5.25 \times 10^3$ and mode volumes down to $2.69 \times(λ/n)^3$ at the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Moreover, the demonstrated wavelength-sized microdisk resonators exhibit WGMs whose resonant wavelengths compatible with the zero-phonon lines of spin defects in 4H-SiCOI, making th…
Silicon carbide (SiC) is rapidly emerging as a leading platform for the implementation of nonlinear and quantum photonics. Here, we find that commercial SiC, which hosts a variety of spin qubits, possesses low optical absorption that can enable SiC integrated photonics with quality factors exceeding $10^7$. We fabricate microring resonators with quality factors as high as 1.1 million, and observe low-threshold (8.5 $\pm$ 0.5 mW) optical parametric oscillation as well as optical microcombs spanning 200 nm. Our demonstration is an essential milestone in the development of photonic devices that h…
We report the first demonstration of integrated electro-optic (EO) phase shifters based on racetrack microresonators on a 3C-silicon-carbide-on-insulator (SiCOI) platform working at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. By applying DC voltage in the crystalline axis perpendicular to the waveguide plane, we have observed optical phase shifts from the racetrack microresonators whose loaded quality (Q) factors are ~ 30,000. We show voltage length-product (V$π$${\cdot}$L$π$) of 118 V${\cdot}$cm, which corresponds to an EO coefficient r$_{41}$ of 2.6 pm/V. The SiCOI platform can be used to realize tunab…
Single photon emitters (SPEs) play an important role in a number of quantum information tasks such as quantum key distributions. In these protocols, telecom wavelength photons are desired due to their low transmission loss in optical fibers. In this paper, we present a study of bright single-photon emitters in cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) emitting in the telecom range. We find that these emitters are photostable and bright at room temperature with a count rate of ~ MHz. Together with the fact that SiC is a growth and fabrication-friendly material, our result may pave the way for its future a…
Nanolaminated Al2O3/HfO2 thin films as well as single Al2O3 and HfO2 layers have been grown as gate dielectrics by Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PEALD) technique on silicon carbide (4H-SiC) substrates. All the three dielectric films have been deposited at temperature as low as 250°C, with a total thickness of about 30 nm and in particular, the nanolaminated Al2O3/HfO2 films have been fabricated by alternating nanometric Al2O3 and HfO2 layers. The structural characteristics and dielectrical properties of the nanolaminated Al2O3/HfO2 films have been evaluated and compared to those of …
Here, we report the first successful exfoliation of two-dimensional Ti$_3$C$_2$T$_x$ MXene through selective etching of silicon from titanium silicon carbide (Ti$_3$SiC$_2$) MAX. The successful etching and exfoliation of MXene is confirmed through the shifting of all (00l) peaks to lower angles along with the increase in c-lattice parameter as determined by X-ray diffraction technique to detail the material structure. The c-lattice parameter of multilayered MXene was found to be 19.34Å which was increased to 26.22 Å after delamination process indicating the successful intercalation of TMA+ ion…
The electrical behavior of Ni Schottky barrier formed onto heavily doped (ND>1019 cm-3) n-type phosphorous implanted silicon carbide (4H-SiC) was investigated, with a focus on the current transport mechanisms in both forward and reverse bias. The forward current-voltage characterization of Schottky diodes showed that the predominant current transport is a thermionic-field emission mechanism. On the other hand, the reverse bias characteristics could not be described by a unique mechanism. In fact, under moderate reverse bias, implantation-induced damage is responsible for the temperature increa…
