2010/08/31 by G. P. Lansbergen, Rajib Rahman, R. Rahman +11 · 27 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advancements in Semiconductor Devices and Circuit Design #Atomic physics #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Excited state #Materials science #Optoelectronics #Perpendicular #Physics #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Semiconductor materials and devices #Silicon #Spin (aerodynamics) #Transistor #Voltage #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.136602
published in Physical Review Letters 107(13), 136602 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 4 figures. (The current version (v3) is the result of splitting up the previous version (v2), and has been completely rewritten)
arxiv created 2011/07/19 · openalex publication_date 2011/09/19 · arxiv updated 2011/11/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report the observation of lifetime-enhanced transport (LET) based on perpendicular valleys in silicon by transport spectroscopy measurements of a two-electron system in a silicon transistor. The LET is manifested as a peculiar current step in the stability diagram due to a forbidden transition between an excited state and any of the lower energy states due to perpendicular valley (and spin) configurations, offering an additional current path. By employing a detailed temperature dependence study in combination with a rate equation model, we estimate the lifetime of this particular state to exceed 48 ns. The two-electron spin-valley configurations of all relevant confined quantum states in our device were obtained by a large-scale atomistic tight-binding simulation. The LET acts as a signature of the complicated valley physics in silicon: a feature that becomes increasingly important in silicon quantum devices.