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Single-shot readout of an electron spin in silicon

Nature volume 467, pages 687–691 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

The size of silicon transistors used in microelectronic devices is shrinking to the level at which quantum effects become important1. Although this presents a significant challenge for the further scaling of microprocessors, it provides the potential for radical innovations in the form of spin-based quantum computers2,3,4 and spintronic devices5. An electron spin in silicon can represent a well-isolated quantum bit with long coherence times6 because of the weak spin–orbit coupling7 and the possibility of eliminating nuclear spins from the bulk crystal8. However, the control of single electrons in silicon has proved challenging, and so far the observation and manipulation of a single spin has been impossible. Here we report the demonstration of single-shot, time-resolved readout of an electron spin in silicon. This has been performed in a device consisting of implanted phosphorus donors9 coupled to a metal-oxide-semiconductor single-electron transistor10,11—compatible with current microelectronic technology. We observed a spin lifetime of ∼6 seconds at a magnetic field of 1.5 tesla, and achieved a spin readout fidelity better than 90 per cent. High-fidelity single-shot spin readout in silicon opens the way to the development of a new generation of quantum computing and spintronic devices, built using the most important material in the semiconductor industry.

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Figure 1: Spin readout device configuration and charge transitions.
Figure 2: Single-shot spin readout and calibration of the ‘read’ level.
Figure 3: Spin relaxation rate.
Figure 4: Readout fidelity and visibility.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. D. Awschalom, C. Tahan, J. J. L. Morton and G. Prawiroatmodjo for comments and suggestions, W. H. Lim for assistance with device fabrication, and R. P. Starrett, D. Barber, A. Cimmino and R. Szymanski for technical assistance. We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Government, the US National Security Agency and the US Army Research Office under contract number W911NF-08-1-0527. M.M. acknowledges support from the Academy of Finland and the Emil Aaltonen foundation.

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Author notes

  1. Hans Huebl, Christopher D. Nugroho & Robert G. Clark

    Present address: Present addresses: Walther-Meissner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany (H.H.); Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA (C.D.N.); Department of Defence, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia (R.G.C.).,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia ,

    Andrea Morello, Jarryd J. Pla, Floris A. Zwanenburg, Kok W. Chan, Kuan Y. Tan, Hans Huebl, Mikko Möttönen, Christopher D. Nugroho, Christopher C. Escott, Robert G. Clark & Andrew S. Dzurak

  2. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia ,

    Changyi Yang, Jessica A. van Donkelaar, Andrew D. C. Alves, David N. Jamieson & Lloyd C. L. Hollenberg

  3. Department of Applied Physics/COMP, Aalto University, PO Box 15100, 00076 Aalto, Finland,

    Mikko Möttönen

  4. Low Temperature Laboratory, Aalto University, PO Box 13500, 00076 Aalto, Finland ,

    Mikko Möttönen

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Contributions

A.M., H.H., C.D.N., D.N.J., C.C.E., L.C.L.H., R.G.C. (while at UNSW) and A.S.D. conceived and designed the experiment, K.W.C. and K.Y.T. fabricated the devices, C.Y., J.A.v.D., A.D.C.A. and D.N.J. implanted the P donors, A.M., J.J.P. and F.A.Z. performed and analysed the measurements, A.M., M.M. and J.J.P. analysed the readout fidelity. A.M. wrote the manuscript with input from all coauthors

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Correspondence to Andrea Morello.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The file contains Supplementary Information on Deterministic loading of the spin ground state and measurement of the Zeeman energy splitting, measurement methods and analysis of the spin relaxation rate and readout fidelity and calculation of the distribution of peak currents. The file also contains Supplementary Figures 1-4 with legends and additional references. (PDF 509 kb)

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Morello, A., Pla, J., Zwanenburg, F. et al. Single-shot readout of an electron spin in silicon. Nature 467, 687–691 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09392

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