Single-electron capacitance spectroscopy of individual dopants in silicon

Nano Lett. 2011 Dec 14;11(12):5208-12. doi: 10.1021/nl2025163. Epub 2011 Oct 31.

Abstract

Motivated by recent transport experiments and proposed atomic-scale semiconductor devices, we present measurements that extend the reach of scanned-probe methods to discern the properties of individual dopants tens of nanometers below the surface of a silicon sample. Using a capacitance-based approach, we have both spatially resolved individual subsurface boron acceptors and detected spectroscopically single holes entering and leaving these minute systems of atoms. A resonance identified as the B+ state is shown to shift in energy from acceptor to acceptor. We examine this behavior with respect to nearest-neighbor distances. By directly measuring the quantum levels and testing the effect of dopant-dopant interactions, this method represents a valuable tool for the development of future atomic-scale semiconductor devices.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.