PhD Studentship - Nanoscale Optoelectronic Characterisation of Locally-doped Semiconductors for Qubit Development

PhD positions: one

Funding for this project covers tuition fees, UKRI minimum annual stipend (currently £19,237/annum) and up to a £5k/annum research training support grant for the full duration of the 4-year programme.

Single dopants in semiconductor materials (e.g. phosphorus in silicon) are promising platform for development of qubits with long coherence times. Utilising donors in silicon enables current industrial fabrication methods to be utilised to provide a scaleable manufacturing route for quantum computing architecture. However, there are many challenges associated with achieving single ion doping in silicon. The Si29 isotopes found in natural silicon hinder electron spin decoherence times, requiring silicon enrichment; and there is a lack of non-destructive characterisation tools to validate deterministic single ion doping. In this interdisciplinary project, we will utilise the state-of-the-art near-field microscope systems within the CUSTOM facility to perform non-destructive optoelectronic characterisation on nanometre length scales of samples implanted by the p-NAME facility. Target samples will include: enriched silicon, implanted silicon (e.g. In/P in Si); implanted Ge (e.g. As in Ge) and implanted topological insulators (e.g. Mn in Bi2Se3). For all these samples, the dopant activation energies lie within the MIR or THz range. We will therefore exploit the unique capability of the CUSTOM facility to operate in this frequency range at cryogenic temperatures (<10K) to freeze out carriers within the implanted samples and selective activate the dopants using our MIR and THz sources to directly image the implanted ions within these samples. Alongside this, we will use other functionality within our systems (e.g. nano-FTIR, THz-TDS) to probe the electrical conductivity, chemical composition and dielectric permittivity of these samples on nanometre length scales. This will provide a direct feedback loop between material optimisation and qubit development. 

The standard academic entry requirement for this PhD is an upper second-class (2:1) honours degree in a discipline directly relevant to the PhD (or international equivalent) OR any upper-second class (2:1) honours degree and a Master’s degree at merit in a discipline directly relevant to the PhD (or international equivalent).

Please contact the supervisor, Dr Boland - jessica.boland@manchester.ac.uk,  for this project before you apply. Please include a CV and details of your current level of study, academic background and any relevant experience and include a paragraph about your motivation to study this PhD project.

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