Growth of PbTe nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy

Sander G Schellingerhout,Jason Jung,Sergey M Frolov,Max S M Hoskam,Erik P A M Bakkers,Marcel A Verheijen,Yifan Jiang,Sebastian Koelling,Oussama Moutanabbir,Maksim Gomanko,Xin Guan,Eline J De Jong

doi:10.1088/2633-4356/ac4fba

Abstract

Advances in quantum technology may come from the discovery of new materials systems that improve the performance or allow for new functionality in electronic devices. Lead telluride (PbTe) is a member of the group IV–VI materials family that has significant untapped potential for exploration. Due to its high electron mobility, strong spin–orbit coupling and ultrahigh dielectric constant it can host few-electron quantum dots and ballistic quantum wires with opportunities for control of electron spins and other quantum degrees of freedom. Here, we report the fabrication of PbTe nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy. We achieve defect-free single crystalline PbTe with large aspect ratios up to 50 suitable for quantum devices. Furthermore, by fabricating a single nanowire field effect transistor, we attain bipolar transport, extract the bandgap and observe Fabry–Pérot oscillations of conductance, a signature of quasiballistic transmission.

Highlights

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are a widely studied platform for quantum transport devices[1] due to the quasi-1D confinement that stems from the small radius (
Due to the relatively low voltage applied during the measurement[25], a comparatively high ratio of ~25% multi-hit events[26] and the heavy elements analyzed in this work the detection system does not fully perform up to specifications and the lighter Pb ions, that typically arrive at the detector first during a multi-hit event, make up ~ 60% of the measured bulk concentration of the stoichiometric PbTe
Single NW field effect transistor (FET) devices are fabricated on highly p-doped Si(100) substrates that act as a global back gate, provided with a 285 nm thermal SiO2 layer on top

Summary

Introduction

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are a widely studied platform for quantum transport devices[1] due to the quasi-1D confinement that stems from the small radius (

Results and Discussion

Conclusions and outlook

Section 1. Additional TEM data

Section 2. Additional Fabry-Pérot data

Section 3. Challenges estimating mobility from field-effect pinch-off traces