1. Room Temperature Microsecond Coherence of Silicon Dangling Bonds
- Author
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Möser, J., Popli, H., Tennahewa, T. H., Biktagirov, T., Behrends, J., Akhtar, W., Malissa, H., Boehme, C., Schmidt, W. G., Gerstmann, U., and Lips, K.
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics - Abstract
Paramagnetic point defects in silicon provide qubits that could open up pathways towards silicon-technology based, low-cost, room-temperature (RT) quantum sensing. The silicon dangling bond (db) is a natural candidate, given its sub-nanometer localization and direct involvement in spin-dependent charge-carrier recombination, allowing for electrical spin readout. In crystalline silicon, however, rapid loss of db spin-coherence at RT due to free-electron trapping, strongly limits quantum applications. In this work, by combining density-functional theory and multifrequency (100 MHz-263 GHz) pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we show that upon electron capture, dbs in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon matrix form metastable spin pairs in a well-defined quasi two-dimensional (2D) configuration. Although highly localized, these entangled spin pairs exhibit nearly vanishing intrinsic dipolar and exchange coupling. The formation of this magic-angle-like configuration involves a >0.3 eV energy relaxation of a trapped electron, stabilizing the pair. This extends RT spin coherence times into the microsecond range in silicon required for a future spin-based quantum sensing technology., Comment: Manuscript: 19 pages, 4 figures, Supporting Information: 22 pages, 5 figures, 1 table
- Published
- 2024