Electrode-stress-induced nanoscale disorder in Si quantum electronic devices

Abstract

Disorder in the potential-energy landscape presents a major obstacle to the more rapid development of semiconductor quantum device technologies. We report a large-magnitude source of disorder, beyond commonly considered unintentional background doping or fixed charge in oxide layers: nanoscale strain fields induced by residual stresses in nanopatterned metal gates. Quantitative analysis of synchrotron coherent hard x-ray nanobeam diffraction patterns reveals gate-induced curvature and strains up to 0.03% in a buried Si quantum well within a Si/SiGe heterostructure. Electrode stress presents both challenges to the design of devices and opportunities associated with the lateral manipulation of electronic energy levels.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2016
Source ID
10.1063/1.4954054

Entities

People

  • C. B. Simmons
  • D. E. Savage
  • J. A. Tilka
  • J. R. Prance
  • Jaeheung Park
  • K. C. Sampson
  • M. A. Eriksson
  • M. G. Lagally
  • M. V. Holt
  • Paul G. Evans
  • S. N. Coppersmith
  • Y. Ahn

Organizations

  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • Army Research Office
  • Division of Graduate Education
  • Division of Materials Research
  • Office of Basic Energy Sciences
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene
  • Quantum Computing