Quantum Technology Capital: Epitaxy Cluster Tool to Enable Next-Generation Quantum Dots for Quantum Technology Applications

这是一项关于先进晶体生长设备的提案，以使英国能够在量子技术的重要领域处于领先地位。它将使纳米级半导体量子点的生长具有世界领先的性能。这些特性包括仅受不受周围环境影响的点的基本特性限制的发射，以及有序的点阵列，这对于实现放大和将非常优秀的量子点科学转化为具有高度竞争力的量子技术至关重要。量子技术的应用依赖于纯粹的量子力学原理，如叠加，即一个系统可以同时处于两个状态，以及纠缠，即一个空间位置的操作远程影响另一个空间位置，而它们之间没有任何直接联系。量子点非常适合利用这些量子力学效应(有时被称为‘量子2’)。III-V半导体量子点的优良特性包括按需发射单光子和纠缠光子、易于在腔中掺入、具有很长的相干性以及与成熟的III-V半导体加工技术兼容。III-V半导体作为发光二极管、互联网数据传输和激光光盘存储的基础在日常生活中很常见，仅举几例。在这里，我们利用有利的III-V特性来实现量子技术中的新应用，包括作为安全量子密码学的源、量子通信的量子中继器、用于量子密码学和传感的集成纠缠源，以及量子网络的长期机会。晶体生长设备，外延集群工具，由两个主室组成，一个专门用于生长最高质量的量子点，第二个用于高级处理结构化模板，用于生长具有预定位置的点阵列，使得能够实现非常高亮度的单光子源和对放大至关重要的阵列。两个主室将通过自动加载、转移和分析室连接在一起，从而实现系统的高吞吐量，并确保只有最高清洁度的晶片才能转移到超高纯度的室。集群工具构成了一套完整的增长、分析和处理功能。它将为英国提供独特的实验基础设施，在将基于量子点的科学转化为量子技术方面处于领先地位。

This is a proposal for advanced crystal growth equipment to enable the UK to take a lead in important areas of Quantum Technologies. It will enable the growth of nanometre-scale semiconductor quantum dots with world-leading properties. These properties include emission limited only by fundamental properties of the dots unaffected by the surrounding environment, and ordered arrays of dots, critical to enable scale-up and to translate the much excellent science of quantum dots to highly competitive Quantum Technologies. The Quantum Technology applications rely on purely quantum mechanical principles such as superposition, where a system can be in two states at the same time, and entanglement where an operation at one spatial location influences another remotely, without there being any direct connection between them. Quantum dots are extremely well suited to exploiting these quantum mechanical effects (sometimes termed 'Quantum 2'). The favourable properties of III-V semiconductor quantum dots include on-demand single and entangled photon emission, ready incorporation in cavities, very long coherence and compatibility with well-developed III-V semiconductor processing technology. III-V semiconductors are familiar in everyday life as the basis of light emitting diodes, internet data transmission, and laser disk storage to name just a few. Here we turn the favourable III-V properties to enable new applications in Quantum Technologies, including as sources for secure Quantum Cryptography, quantum relays for Quantum Communications, integrated entangled sources for Quantum Cryptography and sensing, and longer-term opportunities for memories and spin chains for Quantum Networks.The crystal growth equipment, an Epitaxy Cluster Tool, is comprised of two principal chambers, one dedicated solely to the growth of highest quality quantum dots, and the second to the advanced processing of structured templates for growth of arrays of dots with pre-determined location, enabling the realisation of very high brightness sources of single photons and of arrays essential for scale-up. The two principal chambers will be connected together by an automated loading, transfer and analysis chamber, enabling high throughput of the system, and furthermore ensuring that only highest cleanliness wafers are transferred to the ultrahigh purity chamber. The Cluster Tool constitutes an integrated suite of growth, analysis and processing features. It will provide the UK with unique experimental infrastructure to take a leading position in the translation of quantum-dot-based science into Quantum Technologies.