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Title: Cryogenic Preamplification of a Single-Electron-Transistor using a Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction-Bipolar-Transistor

Abstract

We examine a silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) for cryogenic pre-amplification of a single electron transistor (SET). The SET current modulates the base current of the HBT directly. The HBT-SET circuit is immersed in liquid helium, and its frequency response from low frequency to several MHz is measured. The current gain and the noise spectrum with the HBT result in a signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) that is a factor of 10–100 larger than without the HBT at lower frequencies. Furthermore, the transition frequency defined by SNR = 1 has been extended by as much as a factor of 10 compared to without the HBT amplification. The power dissipated by the HBT cryogenic pre-amplifier is approximately 5 nW to 5 μW for the investigated range of operation. We found that the circuit is also operated in a single electron charge read-out configuration in the time-domain as a proof-of-principle demonstration of the amplification approach for single spin read-out.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1235274
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1237466
Report Number(s):
SAND2015-3432J; SAND-2015-1783J
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951; 583595
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 106; Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Curry, Matthew J., England, Troy Daniel, Bishop, Nathaniel, Ten Eyck, Gregory A., Wendt, Joel R., Pluym, Tammy, Lilly, Michael, Carr, Stephen M, and Carroll, Malcolm S. Cryogenic Preamplification of a Single-Electron-Transistor using a Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction-Bipolar-Transistor. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4921308.
Curry, Matthew J., England, Troy Daniel, Bishop, Nathaniel, Ten Eyck, Gregory A., Wendt, Joel R., Pluym, Tammy, Lilly, Michael, Carr, Stephen M, & Carroll, Malcolm S. Cryogenic Preamplification of a Single-Electron-Transistor using a Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction-Bipolar-Transistor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4921308
Curry, Matthew J., England, Troy Daniel, Bishop, Nathaniel, Ten Eyck, Gregory A., Wendt, Joel R., Pluym, Tammy, Lilly, Michael, Carr, Stephen M, and Carroll, Malcolm S. Thu . "Cryogenic Preamplification of a Single-Electron-Transistor using a Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction-Bipolar-Transistor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4921308. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1235274.
@article{osti_1235274,
title = {Cryogenic Preamplification of a Single-Electron-Transistor using a Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction-Bipolar-Transistor},
author = {Curry, Matthew J. and England, Troy Daniel and Bishop, Nathaniel and Ten Eyck, Gregory A. and Wendt, Joel R. and Pluym, Tammy and Lilly, Michael and Carr, Stephen M and Carroll, Malcolm S.},
abstractNote = {We examine a silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) for cryogenic pre-amplification of a single electron transistor (SET). The SET current modulates the base current of the HBT directly. The HBT-SET circuit is immersed in liquid helium, and its frequency response from low frequency to several MHz is measured. The current gain and the noise spectrum with the HBT result in a signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) that is a factor of 10–100 larger than without the HBT at lower frequencies. Furthermore, the transition frequency defined by SNR = 1 has been extended by as much as a factor of 10 compared to without the HBT amplification. The power dissipated by the HBT cryogenic pre-amplifier is approximately 5 nW to 5 μW for the investigated range of operation. We found that the circuit is also operated in a single electron charge read-out configuration in the time-domain as a proof-of-principle demonstration of the amplification approach for single spin read-out.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4921308},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 20,
volume = 106,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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