Microelectronic Engineering 84 (2007) 16141617 www.elsevier.

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Microwave resonances in silicon-based single electron transistors

L.A. Creswell
a

a,*

, D.G. Hasko a, D.A. Williams

Microelectronics Research Centre, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J.J. Thompson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK b Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, Hitachi Europe Ltd., J.J. Thompson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK Available online 2 February 2007

Abstract Phosphorus-doped silicon is one of the promising silicon-based materials for the potential realisation of a solid-state quantum computer. As a step towards the realisation of this goal, we have studied the response of phosphorus-doped silicon single electron transistors (SETs) to microwave frequency radiation, which might be used to control a quantum bit. The SET source-drain current showed gatevoltage dependent high Q-value resonances as the radiation frequency was swept and interactions between neighbouring resonances were observed as the gate voltage was varied. Pulses of microwave frequency radiation were also coupled to the SET and the amplitude of a high Q-value resonance showed the onset of oscillations as the pulse period increased. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Nanodevices; Quantum information; Microwave; Single electron transistors

1. Introduction Quantum computers have attracted considerable interest due to their potential ability to solve currently intractable problems [1]. Solid-state systems oer excellent prospects for the experimental realisation of a quantum computer due to their scalability and ease of integration. Two promising solid-state candidates are semiconductor double quantum dots and isolated double quantum dots in which charge or spin qubits are embodied in the states of the dots [2,3]. In the isolated double quantum dot system, a single electron transistor (SET) is positioned close to the isolated double quantum dot and used as a sensitive electrometer to determine the qubit state [4]. In this case, the SET source-drain current varies with the charge state of the nearby quantum system(s). In solid-state quantum computing schemes, manipulation of the quantum state is typically achieved by voltage pulses or by bursts of electromagnetic radiation [5,6]. In this paper, the eect of continuous wave and pulsed microwave radiation on an isolated SET is investigated. This
*

work aims to develop a fuller understanding of the eect of such manipulations on the electrometer. The SET source-drain current was observed to be strongly dependent on the frequency and the pulse period of the microwave radiation. The eect of electromagnetic radiation on single and double quantum dots has previously been studied, for example [7,8], however there have been few high-resolution studies of the frequency response of a silicon SET. 2. Fabrication SETs were fabricated using a highly phosphorus doped (3 1019 cm3) silicon-on-insulator wafer. The wafer consists of an undoped silicon substrate, a buried silicon dioxide layer, a doped silicon layer and a thermally grown capping silicon dioxide layer (Fig. 1a). High-resolution electron beam lithography was used to dene the device geometry in a positive electron beam resist (high molecular weight poly(methylmethacrylate)). The pattern was developed ultrasonically at room temperature in a 3:1 mixture of propan-2-ol and methyl isobutyl ketone. This pattern was then converted into a sacricial etch mask by evaporating, and then lifting-o 30 nm of aluminium. A

Corresponding author. E-mail address: lac49@cam.ac.uk (L.A. Creswell).

0167-9317/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mee.2007.01.094

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Fig. 1. Schematic showing the phosphorus-doped silicon SET fabrication process: (a) shows the wafer before processing and (b) shows the trench-isolated device.

3. Measurements A leadless chip carrier measurement socket [10] was modied to include a co-axial microwave waveguide, perpendicular to the device under test. The polished end of the open circuit waveguide was terminated approximately 0.5 mm from the device enabling microwaves to be coupled to the SET (Fig. 3). A 3 dB attenuator was used to thermally anchor the central conductor to the shield and minimise reections from the termination. The SET was mounted in a leadless chip carrier, and the source-drain current measured with low pass ltering. All measurements were conducted at 4.2 K by the direct immersion of the device in liquid helium.
Fig. 2. SEM image of a single-gate double dot silicon-on-insulator SET with source, drain and gate terminals.

4. Results and discussion The source-drain current of an SET was measured during the application of microwave frequency radiation (2 15 GHz). Repeatable changes in the source-drain current were observed as the frequency was swept. Low Q resonances (Q-values  100) were observed over the entire frequency range investigated. These resonances are believed to result from cavity resonances. Repeatable high Q resonances (Q-values up to 105) were observed at frequencies greater than approximately 3 GHz (photon energy 10 leV) (Fig. 4). Below this threshold frequency, high Qvalue resonances were not observed in any of the devices tested. Similar frequency dependencies were observed in

subsequent reactive ion etch, using a gas mixture of SiCl4 and CF4, removed the unmasked regions down to the buried oxide layer, leaving a trench isolated device (Fig. 1b). The aluminium etch mask was then stripped by wet etching prior to a furnace oxidation at 1000 C. The oxidation step minimises the number of surface trap states and hence reduces the occurrence of random telegraph noise. A scanning electron micrograph of a typical device is shown in Fig. 2. The fabrication process is described in more detail in [9].

Fig. 3. Microwaves are coupled to the device from a co-axial waveguide: (a) shows a cross-section schematic of the waveguide and the device bonded into a leadless chip carrier and (b) shows the modied measurement socket.

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Fig. 4. A typical frequency extract showing approximately 20 positive and negative high Q-value resonances in the SET source-drain current.

The eect of pulsed radiation on the source-drain current of an SET was also investigated. Fig. 6a shows the change in amplitude and position of four resonances as the pulse period is varied. The amplitude of the highest Q resonance (A, Q-value 105) shows the onset of oscillations as the pulse period increases (Fig. 6b). An estimate of the lifetime of an excitation can be obtained from the Q-value of the resonance e.g. resonance A at 4.782 GHz has a lifetime of approximately 3 ls. The lower Q resonances (B, C and D, Q-values 104) have estimated lifetimes of approximately 0.3 ls. Their amplitudes do not oscillate as the pulse period increases. The mechanism responsible for the SET microwave resonances is currently under investigation. A proposed mechanism must account for the large number of resonances, their high Q-values and their variation with gate voltage. The resonances show dierent dependences on the SET gate voltage (Fig. 5). This indicates dierent degrees of capacitive coupling to the gate and hence that they originate in dierent regions of the device. The main energy levels within the SET are the Coulomb blockade charging levels, however the dierence between these levels is three orders of magnitude larger than the energy of the applied microwave radiation. Hence, these excitations must arise from sublevels within the device structure. The connement energies of a mesoscopic semiconductor device are known to have a rich interacting structure, as observed here. In order to index these levels unambiguously, a quantitative model of the detailed electronic structure is required. The development of this model, as well as further studies into the hyperne eect of the phosphorus donors, is currently underway. 5. Conclusions The source-drain current of an isolated SET is strongly dependent on the frequency of the coupled microwave radiation. When the frequency is swept, high Q-value resonances are observed at frequencies greater than 3 GHz. If an SET is to be used as a sensitive electrometer in environments with electromagnetic radiation, such complicated dependencies must be fully understood.

Fig. 5. Dierentiated data showing the gate-voltage dependence of a selection of high Q-value resonances in a double quantum dot SET. The insert contains raw data, oset for clarity, showing interaction between two neighbouring resonances.

nanowire, single quantum dot and double quantum dot SETs. The high Q resonances changed in amplitude and position as the gate voltage was varied and interactions between neighbouring resonances were seen (Fig. 5).

Fig. 6. Eect of pulsed radiation on the source-drain current of an SET. An equal on-o time was used to ensure that heating eects remained constant as the pulse period increased: (a) shows the variation of the resonance amplitude and position with pulse period. The data are oset for clarity and (b) shows the amplitude variation of the four resonances in (a) as the pulse period increases. The lines in (b) are included to guide the eye.

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Acknowledgements The authors thank Rob McNeil for constructing the modied Ney socket sample holder. LAC thanks EPSRC and Hitachi Europe Ltd. for their nancial support. References
[1] M.A. Nielsen, I.L. Chuang, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. [2] T. Fujisawa, T. Hayashi, S. Sasaki, Rep. Prog. Phys. 69 (2006) 759.

[3] J.R. Petta et al., Science 309 (2005) 2180. [4] J. Gorman, D.G. Hasko, D.A. Williams, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 090502. [5] Y.A. Pashkin et al., Nature 421 (2003) 823. [6] L.C.L. Hollenberg et al., Phys. Rev. B 69 (2004) 113301. [7] T.H. Oosterkamp et al., Nature 395 (1998) 873. [8] H. Qin, J. Truitt, D.W. van der Weide, R.H. Blick, Phys. B 314 (2002) 444. [9] M.G. Tanner, D.G. Hasko, D.A. Williams, Microelectron. Eng. 83 (2006) 1818. [10] Deringer-Ney Inc. 5020 sample holder.