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.

Kondo physics

Doped silicon’s challenging behaviour

Nature Physics volume 19, pages 614–615 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Despite its technological importance, there remain gaps in our understanding of silicon’s electronic behaviour, especially at low temperatures. Measurements close to a metal–insulator transition show signs of a collective many-body quantum state.

Crystalline silicon is a relatively simple solid and, with the use of doping techniques that control its electrical properties by introducing charge carriers, is the cornerstone on which modern technology is built. After decades of research, virtually all its basic physical and chemical properties are thoroughly known. However, one fundamental aspect of silicon continues to generate nontrivial and sometimes unexpected physics: the ground state of its charge carriers as absolute zero temperature is approached. Writing in Nature Physics, Hyunsik Im and colleagues1 report evidence for an unanticipated kind of ground state in phosphorus-doped silicon (Si:P).

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

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

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

Fig. 1: Conceptual illustrations of Kondo clouds.

References

  1. Im, H. et al. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01930-3 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lagendijk, A., Tiggelen, B. V. & Wiersma, D. S. Phys. Today 62, 24–29 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lee, M., Massey, J. G., Nguyen, V. L. & Shklovskii, B. I. Phys. Rev. B 60, 1582–1591 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bustarret, E. et al. Nature 444, 465–468 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Löhneysen, H. V. Ann. der Physik 523, 599–611 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Si, Q. & Steglich, F. Science 329, 1161–1166 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

    Mark Lee

Authors
  1. Mark Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Lee.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, M. Doped silicon’s challenging behaviour. Nat. Phys. 19, 614–615 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01918-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01918-z

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