Silicon-based nanospintronics

电子的自旋是一种基本的量子力学现象，这意味着它的行为就像一块小磁铁。在正常的电子器件中，自旋是不相关的，因为操作是通过电场对电子电荷的影响来进行的。然而，人们正在提出利用自旋方向携带信息的新型设备，这些技术被称为自旋电子学。其他量子属性，自转和轨道，没有被使用，因为著名的摩尔信息技术定律所依据的微型化的持续成功。然而，与小型设备相关的能量耗散和性能变化的增加促使人们寻找替代范例，而电荷固定而自旋和/或轨道流流动的方案吸引了人们的极大兴趣。本提案利用中国在先进硅纳米制造方面的卓越表现和英国在解决硅中自旋和轨道自由度方面的专业知识相结合，向硅中的单自旋操纵和检测迈进。它不仅满足英国-中国纳米自旋电子学呼叫的要求，而且还涉及EPSRC的主要标志领域，包括量子相干和硅技术，这两个主题都具有很高的意义和潜在的影响。探索用于自旋电子学的硅基平台是很重要的，因为我们可以开发这种半导体的更广泛的加工和制造知识。同时，硅为自旋电子学提供了巨大的好处：它是一个非常稳定的环境，可以存储具有明确自旋状态的原子。我们的计划将把目前最先进的硅自旋电子器件的规模缩小到单自旋极限；我们将演示在纳米级结构中对自旋和轨道的量子力学操纵。在允许寻址单自旋的同时，纳米结构还将通过减少扰乱设备操作的声子散射来增强材料的性能。

The spin of the electron is a fundamental quantum mechanical phenomenon that means it behaves like a small magnet. In normal electronic devices the spin is not relevant, because the operation occurs by the effect of electric fields on the electron charge. However, new kinds of device are being proposed that will make use of the spin direction to carry information, and these technologies are called spintonics . The other quantum attributes, spin and orbit, are not used because of the continuing success in miniaturization underlying the celebrated Moore's Laws for information technology. However, the increased energy dissipation and performance variability associated with smaller devices is spurring a search for alternative paradigms, and schemes where charges are stationary while spin and/or orbital currents flow are attracting great interest. The present proposal exploits the combination of Chinese excellence in advanced silicon nanofabrication and UK expertise in addressing spin and orbital degrees of freedom in silicon to move towards single spin manipulation and detection in silicon. It meets not only the requirements of the UK-China Nanospintronics Call, but also addresses major EPSRC signposted areas, including quantum coherence and silicon technology, both topics with high significance and potential impact. Exploration of silicon-based platforms for spintronics is important because we could exploit the far more extensive processing and fabrication knowledge for this semiconductor. At the same time, silicon provides great benefits for spintronics: it is an exceptionally stable environment to store atoms with well-defined spin states Our programme will scale down the current state-of-the-art of silicon spintronic devices towards the single spin limit; we will demonstrate quantum mechanical manipulation of spins and orbitals in nano-scale structures. At the same time as allowing addressing of single spins, the nanostructures will also enhance the properties of the material by reducing the phonon scattering that upsets device operation.