Communications Materials (May 2024)

Highly 28Si enriched silicon by localised focused ion beam implantation

  • Ravi Acharya,
  • Maddison Coke,
  • Mason Adshead,
  • Kexue Li,
  • Barat Achinuq,
  • Rongsheng Cai,
  • A. Baset Gholizadeh,
  • Janet Jacobs,
  • Jessica L. Boland,
  • Sarah J. Haigh,
  • Katie L. Moore,
  • David N. Jamieson,
  • Richard J. Curry

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-024-00498-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Abstract Solid-state spin qubits within silicon crystals at mK temperatures show great promise in the realisation of a fully scalable quantum computation platform. Qubit coherence times are limited in natural silicon owing to coupling to the 29Si isotope which has a non-zero nuclear spin. This work presents a method for the depletion of 29Si in localised volumes of natural silicon wafers by irradiation using a 45 keV 28Si focused ion beam with fluences above 1 × 1019 ions cm−2. Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis of the irradiated volumes shows residual 29Si concentration down to 2.3 ± 0.7 ppm and with residual C and O comparable to the background concentration in the unimplanted wafer. After annealing, transmission electron microscopy lattice images confirm the solid phase epitaxial re-crystallization of the as-implanted amorphous enriched volume extending over 200 nm in depth.