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Observation and coherent control of interface-induced electronic resonances in a field-effect transistor

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 208–213 (2017)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 August 2017

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Abstract

Electronic defect states at material interfaces provide highly deleterious sources of noise in solid-state nanostructures, and even a single trapped charge can qualitatively alter the properties of short one-dimensional nanowire field-effect transistors (FET) and quantum bit (qubit) devices1,2,3,4,5. Understanding the dynamics of trapped charge is thus essential for future nanotechnologies, but their direct detection and manipulation is rather challenging2,4,5. Here, a transistor-based set-up is used to create and probe individual electronic defect states that can be coherently driven with microwave (MW) pulses. Strikingly, we resolve a large number of very high quality (Q ∼ 1 × 105) resonances in the transistor current as a function of MW frequency and demonstrate both long decoherence times (∼1 μs—40 μs) and coherent control of the defect-induced dynamics. Efficiently characterizing over 800 individually addressable resonances across two separate defect-hosting materials, we propose that their properties are consistent with weakly driven two-level systems.

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Figure 1: TLS spectroscopy.
Figure 2: Dynamics of the TLS.
Figure 3: Ramsey interference.
Figure 4: Power and temperature dependence.

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  • 30 June 2017

    In this work we reported the development of a rigorous mathematical and physical framework in order to model the detailed time-resolved behaviour of over 800 resonances that we studied, through continuous-wave and single-pulse microwave spectroscopy measurements in a field-effect transistor. It has been pointed out to us that we omitted citations to the following works, which report continuous-wave measurements of high-Q resonances in similar devices: T. Ferrus et al., J. Appl. Phys. 106, 033705 (2009); A. Rossi & D. G. Hasko, J. Appl. Phys. 108, 034509 (2010); M. Erfani, D. G. Hasko, A. Rossi, W. S. Cho & J.-B. Choi, Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 192108 (2011). The observations were assigned by the authors to spatial Rabi oscillations of trapped electrons. In our work, the experimental evidence that is currently available cannot unambiguously assign the microscopic origin of the observed resonances (see conclusions).

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Acknowledgements

J.O.T.-P. would like to acknowledge financial support from the Cambridge Overseas Trust and the Mexican National Council on Science and Technology (CONACyT). E.D.H. would like to acknowledge financial support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). S.F. would like to acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). A.W.C. acknowledges support from the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability. We would like to thank A. Nunnenkamp (University of Cambridge, UK) and H. Baranger (Duke University) for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quantum Nanoelectronics Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan

    J. O. Tenorio-Pearl, E. D. Herbschleb, S. Oda & W. I. Milne

  2. Electrical Engineering Division, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK

    J. O. Tenorio-Pearl, S. Fleming & W. I. Milne

  3. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK

    C. Creatore & A. W. Chin

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  1. J. O. Tenorio-Pearl
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Contributions

J.O.T.-P., S.F. and E.D.H. performed and designed the experiments, prepared the samples and performed data processing and analysis. C.C. and A.W.C. performed theoretical modelling. J.O.T.-P., E.D.H., C.C. and A.W.C. performed the numerical simulations. J.O.T.-P., C.C. and A.W.C. conceived the work and wrote the manuscript in consultation with S.O. and W.I.M., and all authors commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to J. O. Tenorio-Pearl or A. W. Chin.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Tenorio-Pearl, J., Herbschleb, E., Fleming, S. et al. Observation and coherent control of interface-induced electronic resonances in a field-effect transistor. Nature Mater 16, 208–213 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4754

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