Needle in a haystack: Efficiently finding atomically defined quantum dots for electrostatic force microscopy

The ongoing development of single electron, nano-, and atomic scale semiconductor devices would greatly benefit from a characterization tool capable of detecting single electron charging events with high spatial resolution at low temperatures. In this work, we introduce a novel Atomic Force Microsco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of scientific instruments 2024-08, Vol.95 (8)
Main Authors: Bustamante, José, Miyahara, Yoichi, Fairgrieve-Park, Logan, Spruce, Kieran, See, Patrick, Curson, Neil, Stock, Taylor J. Z., Grutter, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic force microscopy
Electrical properties
Energy levels
Low temperature
Measuring instruments
Quantum dots
Semiconductor devices
Single-electron transistors
Spatial resolution
Surface roughness
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Summary:The ongoing development of single electron, nano-, and atomic scale semiconductor devices would greatly benefit from a characterization tool capable of detecting single electron charging events with high spatial resolution at low temperatures. In this work, we introduce a novel Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) instrument capable of measuring critical device dimensions, surface roughness, electrical surface potential, and ultimately the energy levels of quantum dots and single electron transistors in ultra miniaturized semiconductor devices. The characterization of nanofabricated devices with this type of instrument presents a challenge: finding the device. We, therefore, also present a process to efficiently find a nanometer sized quantum dot buried in a 10 × 10 mm2 silicon sample using a combination of optical positioning, capacitive sensors, and AFM topography in a vacuum.
ISSN:0034-6748
1089-7623
1089-7623
DOI:10.1063/5.0208571