Hydrogen resist lithography and electron beam lithography for fabricating silicon targets for studying donor orbital states

Abstract

Recently, phosphorous structures in silicon have been of interest theoretically and experimentally due to their relevance in the field of quantum computing. Coherent control of the orbital states of shallow donors in silicon has been demonstrated in bulk doped samples. Here we discuss the fabrication techniques required to 1) obtain patterned two dimensional dilute sheets of impurities in silicon of controlled doping densities 2) get them to act as targets for a terahertz laser. Scanning tunnelling microscope hydrogen lithography enables patterning of impurity features in silicon with a resolution from 1nm to tens of nm. Molecular beam epitaxy is used for a protective thin-film crystalline silicon growth over the impurity sheet. Electron beam lithography coupled with reactive ion etching allows features from tens to hundreds of microns to be etched into the silicon with 10 to 20nm resolution. The experimental readout is achieved via illumination of the silicon target by terahertz light and subsequent electrical detection. The electrical signal comes from coherent and non-linear excitations of the impurity electrons. This detection technique enables the precision condensed matter samples to remain intact after exposure to the free electron laser pulse.