On-Demand Generation of Single Silicon Vacancy Defects in Silicon Carbide

Abstract

Defects in silicon carbide have been explored as promising spin systems in quantum technologies. However, for practical quantum metrology and quantum communication, it is critical to achieve the on-demand shallow spin-defect generation. In this work, we present the generation and characterization of shallow silicon vacancies in silicon carbide by using different implanted ions and annealing conditions. The conversion efficiency of silicon vacancy of helium ions is shown to be higher than that by carbon and hydrogen ions in a wide implanted fluence range. Furthermore, after optimizing annealing conditions, the conversion efficiency can be increased more than 2 times. Due to the high density of the generated ensemble defects, the sensitivity to sense a static magnetic field can be research as high as 11.9 / z B TH   , which is about 15 times higher than previous results. By carefully optimizing implanted conditions, we further show that a single silicon vacancy array can be generated with about 80 % conversion efficiency, which reaches the highest conversion yield in solid state systems. The results pave the way for using on-demand generated shallow silicon vacancy for quantum information processing and quantum photonics. Keyword:Silicon carbide, silicon vacancy, implantation, magnetic sensing, single photon sources In recent years, color centers in silicon carbide (SiC) have been demonstrated as promising physical platforms for quantum science 1-11 . SiC is a well-known semiconductor material which has wide applications in high-power and high-temperature electronic devices. Moreover, SiC has technological advantages due to the welldeveloped device fabrication protocols and inch-scale growth. Besides some bright single photon emitters 3-7 , SiC also has two types of defect spins, including the silicon vacancy and divacancy defects 1,2,[8][9][10][11] . Similar with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond 12 , these spins can be polarized by optics and manipulated by microwaves at room temperature (RT). Moreover, their photoluminescence (PL) spectrum are in the

Magnetic detection under high pressures using designed silicon vacancy centers in silicon carbide

“…The culet diameter is 200 µm and the crystalline orientation with the 1000 (c-axis). 20 keV helium ions (He + ) with a dose of 1× 10 13 /cm 2 are perpendicularly implanted to the culets to generate high-density shallow V Si defects and the corresponding depth is around 100 nm through the stopping and range of ions in matter (SRIM) simulation 30 . We then anneal the SiC anvil cells at 500 ℃ for 2 hours to further increase the V Si defects density by around 3 times 30 .…”

Silicon carbide color centers for quantum applications

“…Different ions were used in [116] to implant an array of ensemble and single V Si in intrinsic pure commercial 4H SiC. Shallow V Si defects (less than 200 nm below surface) were created by implanting hydrogen (H 2 + ), helium (He + ), and (less than 60 nm below surface) carbon (C + ) with energy 40 keV for H 2 + , 20 keV for He + and C + with the fluences ranging from 1×10 11 cm −2 to 1×10 14 cm −2 , respectively.…”

Quantum Sensing for Energy Applications: Review and Perspective

“…[ 37,53 ] In particular, 6 H ‐SiC and 4 H ‐SiC, the most commonly studied SiC polytopes, exhibit near‐infrared emission that minimizes absorbance from optical fibers, facilitating integration into optical devices for sensing applications. [ 53,130 ] Consequently, SiC‐based quantum sensors have been explored for measuring magnetic fields, [ 131,132 ] temperature (10–310 K), [ 133 ] strain, [ 134 ] and electric fields, [ 57,58 ] among others. The silicon monovacancy ( V si − ) and divacancy ( V si , with missing adjacent Si and C atoms) are the two most well‐studied SiC centers for quantum applications.…”

“…SiC is quickly emerging as a versatile material for quantum sensing applications, with advantageous properties including optical fiber‐relevant emission wavelengths, processability, and the ability to operate at room temperature in ambient conditions. Research focused on integrating SiC color centers into devices, [ 125,141 ] improved material processing, [ 129,132 ] and the discovery of new optically active vacancy centers [ 106,142 ] should further expand the utility of SiC centers in energy‐based sensing applications. Rare earth ion‐doped solids …”