Directed Atom-by-Atom Assembly of Dopants in Silicon
[1];
[5];
- Materials Sciences and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 United States, The Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 United States
- Materials Sciences and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 United States
- Materials Sciences and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 United States, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235 United States
- Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 United States
- Materials Sciences and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 United States, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 United States
The ability to controllably position single atoms inside materials is key for the ultimate fabrication of devices with functionalities governed by atomic-scale properties. Single bismuth dopant atoms in silicon provide an ideal case study in view of proposals for single-dopant quantum bits. However, bismuth is the least soluble pnictogen in silicon, meaning that the dopant atoms tend to migrate out of position during sample growth. Here, we demonstrate epitaxial growth of thin silicon films doped with bismuth. We use atomic-resolution aberration-corrected imaging to view the as-grown dopant distribution and then to controllably position single dopants inside the film. Atomic-scale quantum-mechanical calculations corroborate the experimental findings. Finally, these results indicate that the scanning transmission electron microscope is of particular interest for assembling functional materials atom-by-atom because it offers both real-time monitoring and atom manipulation. Lastly, we envision electron-beam manipulation of atoms inside materials as an achievable route to controllable assembly of structures of individual dopants.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; FG02-09ER46554; AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1457489
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1458376
- Journal Information:
- ACS Nano, Journal Name: ACS Nano Vol. 12 Journal Issue: 6; ISSN 1936-0851
- Publisher:
- American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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