Theory of Valley Splitting in Si/SiGe Spin-Qubits: Interplay of Strain, Resonances and Random Alloy Disorder

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thayil, Abel, Ermoneit, Lasse, Kantner, Markus
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912717665730560
author Thayil, Abel
Ermoneit, Lasse
Kantner, Markus
author_facet Thayil, Abel
Ermoneit, Lasse
Kantner, Markus
contents Electron spin-qubits in silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterostructures are a major candidate for the realization of scalable quantum computers. A critical challenge in strained Si/SiGe quantum wells (QWs) is the existence of two nearly degenerate valley states at the conduction band minimum that can lead to leakage of quantum information. To address this issue, various strategies have been explored to enhance the valley splitting (i.e., the energy gap between the two low-energy conduction band minima), such as sharp interfaces, oscillating germanium concentrations in the QW (known as wiggle wells) and shear strain engineering. In this work, we develop a comprehensive envelope-function theory augmented by an empirical nonlocal pseudopotential model to incorporate the effects of alloy disorder, strain, and non-trivial resonances arising from interactions between valley states across neighboring Brillouin zones. We apply our model to analyze common epitaxial profiles studied in the literature with a focus on wiggle well type structures and compare our results with previous work. Our framework provides an efficient tool for quantifying the interplay of these effects on the valley splitting, enabling complex epitaxial profile optimization in future work.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_20618
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Theory of Valley Splitting in Si/SiGe Spin-Qubits: Interplay of Strain, Resonances and Random Alloy Disorder
Thayil, Abel
Ermoneit, Lasse
Kantner, Markus
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Applied Physics
Quantum Physics
Electron spin-qubits in silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterostructures are a major candidate for the realization of scalable quantum computers. A critical challenge in strained Si/SiGe quantum wells (QWs) is the existence of two nearly degenerate valley states at the conduction band minimum that can lead to leakage of quantum information. To address this issue, various strategies have been explored to enhance the valley splitting (i.e., the energy gap between the two low-energy conduction band minima), such as sharp interfaces, oscillating germanium concentrations in the QW (known as wiggle wells) and shear strain engineering. In this work, we develop a comprehensive envelope-function theory augmented by an empirical nonlocal pseudopotential model to incorporate the effects of alloy disorder, strain, and non-trivial resonances arising from interactions between valley states across neighboring Brillouin zones. We apply our model to analyze common epitaxial profiles studied in the literature with a focus on wiggle well type structures and compare our results with previous work. Our framework provides an efficient tool for quantifying the interplay of these effects on the valley splitting, enabling complex epitaxial profile optimization in future work.
title Theory of Valley Splitting in Si/SiGe Spin-Qubits: Interplay of Strain, Resonances and Random Alloy Disorder
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Applied Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.20618