LEAP-HI: Manufacturing of Silicon-based Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Quantum Building Blocks

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Quantum computing promises to address our growing need for faster and more energy efficient information processing technologies. Today quantum computers rely on materials and structures that need to be both extremely pure and operated at cryogenic temperatures, a limitation referred to as “the tyranny of low temperature”. These constraints put into question the scalability of quantum computers and, in turn, their potential to manage the sheer magnitude of information generated by modern-day society. This Leading Engineering for America's Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP-HI) project will investigate alternative materials and structures that have the potential to store and optically access quantum information at room temperature. The structures are based on small semiconductor (inorganic) nanoparticles integrated with carefully designed organic molecules. The main outcomes of this project will be (a) a set of design guidelines for these hybrid organic-inorganic structures that optimize the optical and electronic coupling between the two components, and (b) the development of strategies for their manufacturing that, while being novel, are also inherently scalable to large production volumes. Achieving these goals will allow establishing the hybrid organic-inorganic structures as the fundamental building block of the next generation of quantum computers. A broad array of activities including outreach to community colleges, internship into the principal investigator’s laboratories and outreach to the public in collaboration with local museums will be integrated into the research plan. These activities will target students at all levels (from grade school to community colleges), with particular attention towards students from underrepresented groups and the goal of encouraging them to pursue advanced degrees in STEM.This project is centered on silicon quantum dots as the inorganic component of the researched structure. This choice is motivated by their advantageous properties in terms of abundance and sustainability, and by the fact that their processing science is still in its infancy, making this field ripe for critical contributions. The project aims at achieving an unprecedented control over the optoelectronic coupling between silicon quantum dots and surrounding organic semiconducting matrices. This will be realized by grafting transmitter organic molecules onto the surface of the silicon particles, therefore tuning the interfacial chemistry and the bi-directional energy transfer between the two system components. Novel gas-phase processing schemes will be developed to produce silicon quantum dots and immediately graft their surfaces with multi-functional organic groups, providing a rapid and scalable approach to the production of the hybrid structures. Ultrafast spectroscopy will be used to elucidate the role played by interfacial chemistry on the functionality of the hybrid organic-inorganic structures. Atomistic modelling will provide theoretical foundation and guidance to this investigation. The investigators are uniquely qualified to undertake this project, as they bring together expertise in the synthesis of silicon quantum dots, the design of organic-inorganic interfaces, the photo-physical characterization of hybrid systems and the ab-initio modelling of interfacial effects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.