Self-assembly of single Si quantum dots in SiO2

However, such structures are not small enough to operate at room temperature (RT) quantum devices with switching mechanisms different from CMOS. E.g., the extremely low-power device Single Electron Transistor (SET) works at RT only if the size of the quantum dot is below 5 nm, and if the tunnel distances through SiO2 are a few nm only.
Here we present a directed self-assembly process of a 2-3 nm small single Si dot located in the middle of a SiO2 layer with distances of ~2 nm to the upper and lower Si. The self-assembly occurs by phase separation of metastable SiOx during a heat treatment. The self-assembly becomes directed by constraining and shaping the SiOx volume in such a manner that a single Si quantum dot in the requested position forms. The SiOx is fabricated by collisional mixing of Si atoms from above and below in the SiO2 layer. Two methods to form a local, constrained volume of SiOx are presented: (i) A large-area Si/SiO2/Si layer stack is irradiated with a 2 nm narrow energetic Ne+ beam in a Helium Ion Microscope (HIM), which results in a ~10 nm disk of SiOx in the buried SiO2 layer. (ii) Si pillars (<20 nm) with an embedded SiO2 layer are irradiated with a broad beam of energetic Si+ ions. Method (ii) will be used to fabricate SETs in a CMOS technology.
This work has been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and under grant agreement No 688072 innovation program.