Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Anderson–Mott transition in arrays of a few dopant atoms in a silicon transistor

Nature Nanotechnology volume 7, pages 443–447 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Dopant atoms are used to control the properties of semiconductors in most electronic devices. Recent advances such as single-ion implantation1,2,3,4,5 have allowed the precise positioning of single dopants in semiconductors as well as the fabrication of single-atom transistors6,7,8,9, representing steps forward in the realization of quantum circuits10,11,12,13,14. However, the interactions between dopant atoms have only been studied in systems containing large numbers of dopants, so it has not been possible to explore fundamental phenomena such as the Anderson–Mott transition between conduction by sequential tunnelling through isolated dopant atoms, and conduction through thermally activated impurity Hubbard bands15,16,17,18. Here, we observe the Anderson–Mott transition at low temperatures in silicon transistors containing arrays of two, four or six arsenic dopant atoms that have been deterministically implanted along the channel of the device. The transition is induced by controlling the spacing between dopant atoms. Furthermore, at the critical density between tunnelling and band transport regimes, we are able to change the phase of the electron system from a frozen Wigner-like phase to a Fermi glass by increasing the temperature. Our results open up new approaches for the investigation of coherent transport, band engineering and strongly correlated systems in condensed-matter physics.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Single-ion-implanted devices.
Figure 2: Anderson–Mott transition probed by means of quantum transport.
Figure 3: Thermal activation of transport.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Shinada, T., Okamoto, S., Kobayashi, T. & Ohdomari, I. Enhancing semiconductor device performance using ordered dopant arrays. Nature 437, 1128–1131 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tan, K. Y. et al. Transport spectroscopy of single phosphorus donors in a silicon nanoscale transistor. Nano Lett. 10, 11–15 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Persaud, A. et al. Integration of scanning probes and ion beams. Nano Lett. 5, 1087–1091 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Shinada, T. et al. A reliable method for the counting and control of single ions for single-dopant controlled devices. Nanotechnology 19, 345202 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hori, M. et al. Enhancing single-ion detection efficiency by applying substrate bias voltage for deterministic single-ion doping. Appl. Phys. Exp. 4, 046501 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Koenraad, P. M. & Flatté, M. E. Single dopants in semiconductors. Nature Mater. 10, 91–100 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Pierre, M. et al. Single-donor ionization energies in a nanoscale CMOS channel. Nature Nanotech. 5, 133–137 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Morello, A. et al. Single-shot readout of an electron spin in silicon. Nature 467, 687–691 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Fuechsle, M. et al. A single atom transistor. Nature Nanotech. 7, 242–246 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hollemberg, L. C. L., Greentree, A. D., Fowler, A. G. & Wellard, C. J. Two-dimensional architectures for donor-based quantum computing. Phys. Rev. B 74, 045311 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Rahman, R. et al. Atomistic simulations of adiabatic coherent electron transport in triple donor systems. Phys. Rev. B 80, 035302 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Prati, E. Valley blockade quantum switching in silicon nanostructures. J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 11, 8522–8526 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Leti, G. et al. Switching quantum transport in a three donors silicon fin-field effect transistor. Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 242102 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Klein, M. et al. Ternary logic implemented on a single dopant atom field effect silicon transistor. Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 043107 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Anderson, P. W. Absence of diffusion in certain random lattices. Phys. Rev. 109, 1492–1505 (1958).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Mott, N. F. & Twose, W. D. The theory of impurity conduction. Adv. Phys. 10, 107–163 (1961).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Mott, N. F. Metal–Insulator Transitions (Taylor and Francis, 1974).

  18. Hubbard, J. Electron correlations in narrow energy bands. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 276, 238–257 (1963).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Ono, Y. et al. Conductance modulation by individual acceptors in Si nanoscale field-effect transistors. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 102106 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lansbergen, G. P. et al. Gate-induced quantum-confinement transition of a single dopant atom in a silicon FinFET. Nature Phys. 4, 656–661 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Prati, E., Latempa, R. & Fanciulli, M. Microwave-assisted transport in a single-donor silicon quantum dot. Phys. Rev. B 80, 165331 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Prati, E. et al. Adiabatic charge control in a single donor silicon quantum dot. Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 053109 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mazzeo, G. et al. Charge dynamics of a single donor coupled to a few electrons quantum dot in silicon. Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 213107 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Thomas, G. A., Capizzi, M., DeRosa, F., Bhatt, R. N. & Rice, M. T. Optical study of interacting donors in semiconductors. Phys. Rev. B 23, 5472–5494 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Sellier, H. et al. Transport spectroscopy of a single dopant in a gated silicon nanowire. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 206805 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Beenakker, C. W. J. Theory of Coulomb-blockade oscillations in the conductance of a quantum dot. Phys. Rev. B 44, 1646–1656 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Norton, P. Formation of the upper Hubbard band from negative-donor-ion states in silicon. Phys. Rev. Lett. 37, 164–168 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Steele, G. A., Gotz, G. & Kouwenhoven, L. P. Tunable few-electron double quantum dots and Klein tunnelling in ultraclean carbon nanotubes. Nature Nanotech. 4, 363–367 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Podor, B. et al. Wigner crystal and other insulating phases of two-dimensional electrons in high magnetic fields, Opto-Electron. Rev. 9, 195–202 (2001).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Moraru, D. et al. Atom devices based on single dopants in silicon nanostructures. Nano Res. Lett. 6, 479 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Moraru, D., Kuzuya, Y., Mizuno, T., Tabe, M. & Mizuta, H. in Autumn JSAP symposium ‘Deterministic doping and single dopant devices for extended CMOS’, August 2011, Yamagata, Japan.

  32. Mizuta, H., Kuzuya, Y., Moraru, D., Mizuno, T. & Tabe, M. in Italy–Japan Workshop on Single Atom Control for Future Nanoelectronics, November 2011, Tokyo, Japan.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by SRC no. 1676.001, a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (nos 22681020, 23226009 and 20241036) from MEXT, Japan, the PEST 2010-2012 Ministero Affari Esteri (MAE), Italy, and the Short-Term Mobility Program 2011, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Takahiro Shinada

    Present address: Present address: Innovation Center for Advanced Nanodevices, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio MDM, IMM-CNR, Via Olivetti 2, I-20864 Agrate Brianza, Italy

    Enrico Prati

  2. Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku, 169-8555, Tokyo, Japan

    Masahiro Hori

  3. Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, Milan, I-20133, Italy

    Filippo Guagliardo & Giorgio Ferrari

  4. Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, 1-6-1 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku, 169-8050, Tokyo, Japan

    Takahiro Shinada

Authors
  1. Enrico Prati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Masahiro Hori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Filippo Guagliardo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Giorgio Ferrari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Takahiro Shinada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

E.P. and F.G. carried out the measurements. M.H. and T.S. implanted the single donors. E.P., F.G. and G.F. analysed the data. E.P and T.S. designed the samples, the experiment and co-wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Enrico Prati or Takahiro Shinada.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information

Supplementary information (PDF 1398 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Prati, E., Hori, M., Guagliardo, F. et al. Anderson–Mott transition in arrays of a few dopant atoms in a silicon transistor. Nature Nanotech 7, 443–447 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.94

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.94

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing