Single Rare-Earth Ions as Atomic-Scale Probes in Ultrascaled Transistors

Qi Zhang; Guangchong Hu; Gabriele G de Boo; Miloš Rančić; Brett C Johnson; Jeffrey C McCallum; Jiangfeng Du; Matthew J Sellars; Chunming Yin; Sven Rogge

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01281

Single Rare-Earth Ions as Atomic-Scale Probes in Ultrascaled Transistors

Nano Lett. 2019 Aug 14;19(8):5025-5030. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01281. Epub 2019 Jul 3.

Authors

Qi Zhang^{1

2

3

4}, Guangchong Hu², Gabriele G de Boo², Miloš Rančić^{5

6}, Brett C Johnson⁷, Jeffrey C McCallum⁷, Jiangfeng Du^{1

3

4}, Matthew J Sellars⁵, Chunming Yin^{1

2

3

4}, Sven Rogge²

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026 , China.
² Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Physics , University of New South Wales , Sydney , New South Wales 2052 , Australia.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Microscale Magnetic Resonance , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026 , China.
⁴ Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026 , China.
⁵ Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, Research School of Physics , Australian National University , Canberra , Australian Capital Territory 0200 , Australia.
⁶ Quantronics Group, SPEC, CEA Saclay , 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex , France.
⁷ Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Physics , University of Melbourne , Melbourne , Victoria 3010 , Australia.

PMID: 31251075
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01281

Abstract

Continued scaling of semiconductor devices has driven information technology into vastly diverse applications. The performance of ultrascaled transistors is strongly influenced by local electric field and strain. As the size of these devices approaches fundamental limits, it is imperative to develop characterization techniques with nanometer resolution and three-dimensional (3D) mapping capabilities for device optimization. Here, we report on the use of single erbium (Er) ions as atomic probes for the electric field and strain in a silicon ultrascaled transistor. Stark shifts on the Er³⁺ spectra induced by both the overall electric field and the local charge environment are observed. Changes in strain smaller than 3 × 10^-6 are detected, which is around 2 orders of magnitude more sensitive than the standard techniques used in the semiconductor industry. These results open new possibilities for 3D mapping of the local strain and electric field in the channel of ultrascaled transistors.

Keywords: Single erbium ions; Stark effect; strain; transistor metrology.