NIST researchers have developed a novel method for growing ultra-enriched 28Si epilayers on natural abundance silicon substrates, enabling the creation of highly enriched silicon with 28Si levels up to 99.9999%. This breakthrough could significantly improve the performance of quantum bits (qubits) in solid-state quantum computing devices.
The research team has fabricated MOS Hall bar devices and quantum dot devices using the ultra-enriched silicon to study its electrical properties and potential for hosting qubits. Initial results show that the enriched silicon exhibits very high mobilities and well-developed Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, indicating promising material properties for quantum computing applications.
In addition to the enriched silicon work, the researchers are exploring hybrid silicon materials using super-saturated doping to create regions of superconductivity within crystalline silicon. This could potentially merge superconducting and semiconductor devices in a single monocrystalline system, opening up new possibilities for quantum computing architectures.
The research is part of a broader global effort to develop silicon-based quantum computing technologies, with many groups around the world realizing qubits using various approaches such as metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices, single atomic dopants/defects, and SiGe heterostructures. The NIST team’s work on ultra-enriched silicon could provide a valuable material platform for advancing these technologies.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/enriched-silicon-and-devices-quantum-information
Keywords: silicon, qubits, decoherence, enrichment, superconductivity
