Pauli-spin-blockade transport through a silicon double quantum dot

Abstract

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 excited-state resonance by virtue of efficient phonon emission between the ground states. Our experiment demonstrates considerable potential for investigating silicon-based spin dynamics and spin-based quantum information processing.

Few electron limit of n-type metal oxide semiconductor single electron transistors

“…[10] In the past, this approach has been exploited to fabricate compact double and triple quantum dots realized with only two gates. [11] The two main advantages are on one hand its compactness, as regard to state-of-the-art previous works on Si including additional upper gate [12], and on the other one the detection of a clear single electron regime.…”

Coherent electrical rotations of valley states in Si quantum dots using the phase of the valley-orbit coupling

“…16 As a result, Si spin QC has emerged as an active subfield of modern condensed matter physics. Outstanding experimental progress in Si spin QC has been reported in the last few years in Si quantum dots (QDs), [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] and in donor-based architectures. [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Theoretical research on Si QDs has also evolved at a brisk pace.…”

Unconventional Transport in the “Hole” Regime of a Si Double Quantum Dot

“…Several experiments have probed charge transport through double quantum dots in the few-electron regime and investigated effects such as energy-dependent tunneling and spin-dependent transport [6][7][8][9][10]. Transport in the three-electron regime is well-described in terms of holes when all the intra-dot relaxation rates are much faster than the interdot tunnel rate, so that the dominant transport channels are through the lowest energy states of each dot, as is typically the case in GaAs devices [9,11].…”

“…A promising architecture for such qubits is the double quantum dot [3][4][5]. Understanding spindependent transport [6][7][8][9][10] is important for using the spin degree of freedom in a double dot qubit. Here, we show that transport data taken in the three-electron regime of a double dot in a Si/SiGe heterostructure have features that are qualitatively inconsistent with the conventional model of 'hole' transport [11], because this model does not account for transport through excited states.…”