arXiv subjects

W. H. Lim

Publications and source records attributed to W. H. Lim.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Holes in silicon are heavier than expected: transport properties of extremely high mobility electrons and holes in silicon MOSFETs

The quality of the silicon-oxide interface plays a crucial role in fabricating reproducible silicon spin qubits. In this work we characterize interface quality by performing mobility measurements on silicon Hall bars. We find a peak electron mobility of nearly $40,000\,\text{cm}^2/\text{Vs}$ in a device with a $21\,\text{nm}$ oxide layer, and a peak hole mobility of about $2,000\,\text{cm}^2/\text{Vs}$ in a device with $8\,\text{nm}$ oxide, the latter being the highest recorded mobility for a p-type silicon MOSFET. Despite the high device quality, we note an order-of-magnitude difference in mobility between electrons and holes. By studying additional n-type and p-type devices with identical oxides, and fitting to transport theory, we show that this mobility discrepancy is due to valence band nonparabolicity. The nonparabolicity endows holes with a density-dependent transverse effective mass ranging from $0.6m_0$ to $0.7m_0$, significantly larger than the usually quoted bend-edge mass of $0.22m_0$. Finally, we perform magnetotransport measurements to extract momentum and quantum scattering lifetimes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

A singlet-triplet hole-spin qubit in MOS silicon

Holes in silicon quantum dots are promising for spin qubit applications due to the strong intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. The spin-orbit coupling produces complex hole-spin dynamics, providing opportunities to further optimize spin qubits. Here, we demonstrate a singlet-triplet qubit using hole states in a planar metal-oxide-semiconductor double quantum dot. We observe rapid qubit control with singlet-triplet oscillations up to 400 MHz. The qubit exhibits promising coherence, with a maximum dephasing time of 600 ns, which is enhanced to 1.3 us using refocusing techniques. We investigate the magnetic field anisotropy of the eigenstates, and determine a magnetic field orientation to improve the qubit initialisation fidelity. These results present a step forward for spin qubit technology, by implementing a high quality singlet-triplet hole-spin qubit in planar architecture suitable for scaling up to 2D arrays of coupled qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Characterizing non-Markovian Quantum Process by Fast Bayesian Tomography

To push gate performance to levels beyond the thresholds for quantum error correction, it is important to characterize the error sources occurring on quantum gates. However, the characterization of non-Markovian error poses a challenge to current quantum process tomography techniques. Fast Bayesian Tomography (FBT) is a self-consistent gate set tomography protocol that can be bootstrapped from earlier characterization knowledge and be updated in real-time with arbitrary gate sequences. Here we demonstrate how FBT allows for the characterization of key non-Markovian error processes. We introduce two experimental protocols for FBT to diagnose the non-Markovian behavior of two-qubit systems on silicon quantum dots. To increase the efficiency and scalability of the experiment-analysis loop, we develop an online FBT software stack. To reduce experiment cost and analysis time, we also introduce a native readout method and warm boot strategy. Our results demonstrate that FBT is a useful tool for probing non-Markovian errors that can be detrimental to the ultimate realization of fault-tolerant operation on quantum computing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Coherent control of electron spin qubits in silicon using a global field

Silicon spin qubits promise to leverage the extraordinary progress in silicon nanoelectronic device fabrication over the past half century to deliver large-scale quantum processors. Despite the scalability advantage of using silicon technology, realising a quantum computer with the millions of qubits required to run some of the most demanding quantum algorithms poses several outstanding challenges, including how to control so many qubits simultaneously. Recently, compact 3D microwave dielectric resonators were proposed as a way to deliver the magnetic fields for spin qubit control across an entire quantum chip using only a single microwave source. Although spin resonance of individual electrons in the globally applied microwave field was demonstrated, the spins were controlled incoherently. Here we report coherent Rabi oscillations of single electron spin qubits in a planar SiMOS quantum dot device using a global magnetic field generated off-chip. The observation of coherent qubit control driven by a dielectric resonator establishes a credible pathway to achieving large-scale control in a spin-based quantum computer.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Single-electron spin resonance in a nanoelectronic device using a global field

Spin-based silicon quantum electronic circuits offer a scalable platform for quantum computation, combining the manufacturability of semiconductor devices with the long coherence times afforded by spins in silicon. Advancing from current few-qubit devices to silicon quantum processors with upwards of a million qubits, as required for fault-tolerant operation, presents several unique challenges, one of the most demanding being the ability to deliver microwave signals for large-scale qubit control. Here we demonstrate a potential solution to this problem by using a three-dimensional dielectric resonator to broadcast a global microwave signal across a quantum nanoelectronic circuit. Critically, this technique utilizes only a single microwave source and is capable of delivering control signals to millions of qubits simultaneously. We show that the global field can be used to perform spin resonance of single electrons confined in a silicon double quantum dot device, establishing the feasibility of this approach for scalable spin qubit control.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Charge State Hysteresis in Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Semiconductor quantum dots provide a two-dimensional analogy for real atoms and show promise for the implementation of scalable quantum computers. Here, we investigate the charge configurations in a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor double quantum dot tunnel coupled to a single reservoir of electrons. By operating the system in the few-electron regime, the stability diagram shows hysteretic tunnelling events that depend on the history of the dots charge occupancy. We present a model which accounts for the observed hysteretic behaviour by extending the established description for transport in double dots coupled to two reservoirs. We demonstrate that this type of device operates like a single-electron memory latch.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Orbital and valley state spectra of a few-electron silicon quantum dot

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 spin filling of the dot we extract a valley splitting of ~230 μeV, irrespective of electron number. This indicates that favorable conditions for qubit operation are in place in the few-electron regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Single-electron shuttle based on a silicon quantum dot

We report on single-electron shuttling experiments with a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot at 300 mK. Our system consists of an accumulated electron layer at the Si/SiO_2 interface below an aluminum top gate with two additional barrier gates used to deplete the electron gas locally and to define a quantum dot. Directional single-electron shuttling from the source and to the drain lead is achieved by applying a dc source-drain bias while driving the barrier gates with an ac voltage of frequency f_p. Current plateaus at integer levels of ef_p are observed up to f_p = 240 MHz operation frequencies. The observed results are explained by a sequential tunneling model which suggests that the electron gas may be heated substantially by the ac driving voltage.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Dynamically controlled charge sensing of a few-electron silicon quantum dot

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.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Spin filling of valley-orbit states in a silicon quantum dot

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.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Pauli Spin Blockade in a Highly Tunable Silicon Double Quantum Dot

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 electron occupancy of each dot and the inter-dot tunnel coupling are independently tunable by electrostatic gates. At weak inter-dot coupling we clearly observe Pauli spin blockade and measure a large intra-dot singlet-triplet splitting $>$ 1 meV. The leakage current in spin blockade has a peculiar magnetic field dependence, unrelated to electron-nuclear effects and consistent with the effect of spin-flip cotunneling processes. The results obtained here provide excellent prospects for realizing singlet-triplet qubits in silicon.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Observation of the single-electron regime in a highly tunable silicon quantum dot

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 enables discrimination between excited states of the dot and density of states modulations in the leads.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Probe and Control of the Reservoir Density of States in Single-Electron Devices

We present a systematic study of quasi-one-dimensional density of states (DOS) in electron accumulation layers near a Si-SiO2 interface. In the experiments we have employed two conceptually different objects to probe DOS, namely, a phosphorus donor and a quantum dot, both operating in the single-electron tunneling regime. We demonstrate how the peaks in DOS can be moved in the transport window independently of the other device properties, and in agreement with the theoretical analysis. This method introduces a fast and convenient way of identifying excited states in these emerging nanostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Electrostically defined few-electron double quantum dot in silicon

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.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗