Park, J. and Ahn, Y. and Tilka, J. A. and Sampson, K. C. and Savage, D. E. and Prance, Jonathan Robert and Simmons, C. B. and Lagally, M. G. and Coppersmith, S. N. and Eriksson, M. A. and Holt, M. V. and Evans, P. G. (2016) Electrode-stress-induced nanoscale disorder in Si quantum electronic devices. APL Materials, 4 (6): 066102. ISSN 2166-532X
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Abstract
Disorder in the potential-energy landscape presents a major obstacle to the more rapid development of semiconductor quantum device technologies. We report a large-magnitude source of disorder, beyond commonly considered unintentional background doping or fixed charge in oxide layers: nanoscale strain fields induced by residual stresses in nanopatterned metal gates. Quantitative analysis of synchrotron coherent hard x-ray nanobeam diffraction patterns reveals gate-induced curvature and strains up to 0.03% in a buried Si quantum well within a Si/SiGe heterostructure. Electrode stress presents both challenges to the design of devices and opportunities associated with the lateral manipulation of electronic energy levels.