Single-hole pump in germanium

Alessandro Rossi*, Nico W. Hendrickx, Amir Sammak, Menno Veldhorst, Giordano Scappucci, Masaya Kataoka

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

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Abstract

Single-charge pumps are the main candidates for quantum-based standards of the unit ampere because they can generate accurate and quantized electric currents. In order to approach the metrological requirements in terms of both accuracy and speed of operation, in the past decade there has been a focus on semiconductor-based devices. The use of a variety of semiconductor materials enables the universality of charge pump devices to be tested, a highly desirable demonstration for metrology, with GaAs and Si pumps at the forefront of these tests. Here, we show that pumping can be achieved in a yet unexplored semiconductor, i.e. germanium. We realise a single-hole pump with a tunable-barrier quantum dot electrostatically defined at a Ge/SiGe heterostructure interface. We observe quantized current plateaux by driving the system with a single sinusoidal drive up to a frequency of 100 MHz. The operation of the prototype was affected by accidental formation of multiple dots, probably due to disorder potential, and random charge fluctuations. We suggest straightforward refinements of the fabrication process to improve pump characteristics in future experiments 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Original languageEnglish
Article number434001
Pages (from-to)1-7
JournalJournal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Volume54
Issue number43
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Germanium
  • Quantum dot
  • Quantum metrology
  • Single-hole pump

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