Published in APL: Prospects of silicide contacts for Si quantum devices
Metal contacts in semiconductor quantum electronic devices can offer advantages over doped contacts, but the formation of a Schottky barrier at the silicon–metal interface can lead to poor contacts at cryogenic temperatures.
We investigate this issue and improve the contacts by more than an order of magnitude by implementing meander-shaped gated contacts. In addition, we observe signatures of enhanced transport through localized defect states, which can be attributed to platinum clusters in the depletion region of the Schottky contacts forming during the silicidation process.
These results showcase the prospects of silicide contacts in the context of cryogenic quantum devices and address associated challenges.
Work by IBM with ETHZ and Basel contributions
K. Tsoukalas, F. Schupp, L. Sommer, I. Bouquet, M. Mergenthaler, S. Paredes, N. Vico Trivino, M. Luisier, G. Salis, P. Harvey-Collard, D. Zumbuhl, and A. Fuhrer,Applied Physics Letters 125, 013501 (July 2, 2024) Supplementary