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.
Nature. 2010 Oct 7;467(7316):687-91. doi: 10.1038/nature09392. Epub 2010 Sep 26.
The size of silicon transistors used in microelectronic devices is shrinking to the level at which quantum effects become important. 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 computers and spintronic devices. An electron spin in silicon can represent a well-isolated quantum bit with long coherence times because of the weak spin-orbit coupling and the possibility of eliminating nuclear spins from the bulk crystal. 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 donors coupled to a metal-oxide-semiconductor single-electron transistor-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.
用于微电子设备的硅晶体管的尺寸缩小到量子效应变得重要的程度。虽然这对微处理器的进一步扩展提出了重大挑战，但它为基于自旋的量子计算机和自旋电子器件的彻底创新提供了潜力。由于弱自旋轨道耦合和从体单晶中消除核自旋的可能性，硅中的电子自旋可以表示为具有长相干时间的良好隔离量子位。然而，控制硅中的单个电子已被证明具有挑战性，到目前为止，还不可能观察和操纵单个自旋。在这里，我们报告了在由与金属氧化物半导体单电子晶体管兼容的掺杂磷施主组成的器件中对硅中电子自旋进行单次、时间分辨读出的演示。在 1.5 特斯拉的磁场下，我们观察到自旋寿命约为 6 秒，并且自旋读出保真度优于 90%。硅中的高保真单次自旋读出为使用半导体行业最重要的材料开发新一代量子计算和自旋电子器件开辟了道路。
