Quantum diamond microscope (QDM) magnetic field imaging is an emerging interrogation and diagnostic technique for integrated circuits (ICs). To date, the ICs measured with a QDM have been either too complex for us to predict the expected magnetic fields and benchmark the QDM performance or too simple to be relevant to the IC community. In this paper, we establish a 555 timer IC as a "model system"to optimize QDM measurement implementation, benchmark performance, and assess IC device functionality. To validate the magnetic field images taken with a QDM, we use a spice electronic circuit simulator and finite-element analysis (FEA) to model the magnetic fields from the 555 die for two functional states. We compare the advantages and the results of three IC-diamond measurement methods, confirm that the measured and simulated magnetic images are consistent, identify the magnetic signatures of current paths within the device, and discuss using this model system to advance QDM magnetic imaging as an IC diagnostic tool.
The freely available "Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter"(SRIM) code is used for evaluating ion beam ranges and depth profiles. We present secondary ion mass spectrometry and Rutherford backscattering experimental results of Si samples implanted with low energy Sb ions to evaluate the accuracy of SRIM simulations. We show that the SRIM simulation systematically overestimates the range by 2-6 nm and this overestimation increases for larger ion implantation energy. For the lowest energy implantation investigated, here we find up to a 25% error between the SRIM simulation and the measured range. The ion straggle shows excellent agreement between simulation and experimental results.
Point defects in SiC are an attractive platform for quantum information and sensing applications because they provide relatively long spin coherence times, optical spin initialization, and spin-dependent fluorescence readout in a fabrication-friendly semiconductor. The ability to precisely place these defects at the optimal location in a host material with nano-scale accuracy is desirable for integration of these quantum systems with traditional electronic and photonic structures. Here, we demonstrate the precise spatial patterning of arrays of silicon vacancy (VSi) emitters in an epitaxial 4H-SiC (0001) layer through mask-less focused ion beam implantation of Li+. We characterize these arrays with high-resolution scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy on the Si-face, observing sharp emission lines primarily coming from the V1 ′ zero-phonon line (ZPL). The implantation dose is varied over 3 orders of magnitude, leading to VSi densities from a few per implantation spot to thousands per spot, with a linear dependence between ZPL emission and implantation dose. Optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) is also performed, confirming the presence of V2 VSi. Our investigation reveals scalable and reproducible defect generation.
This project will test the coupling of light emitted from silicon vacancy and nitrogen vacancy defects in diamond into additively manufactured photonic wire bonds toward integration into an "on-chip quantum photonics platform". These defects offer a room-temperature solid state solution for quantum information technologies but suffer from issues such as low activation rate and variable local environments. Photonic wire bonding will allow entanglement of pre-selected solid-state defects alleviating some of these issues and enable simplified integration with other photonic devices. These developments could prove to be key technologies to realize quantum secured networks for national security applications.
Understanding the capture of charge carriers by colour centres in semiconductors is important for the development of novel forms of sensing and quantum information processing, but experiments typically involve ensemble measurements, often impacted by defect proximity. Here we show that confocal fluorescence microscopy and magnetic resonance can be used to induce and probe charge transport between individual nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond at room temperature. In our experiments, a ‘source’ nitrogen vacancy undergoes optically driven cycles of ionization and recombination to produce a stream of photogenerated carriers, one of which is subsequently captured by a ‘target’ nitrogen vacancy several micrometres away. We use a spin-to-charge conversion scheme to encode the spin state of the source colour centre into the charge state of the target, which allows us to set an upper bound to carrier injection from other background defects. We attribute our observations to the action of unscreened Coulomb potentials producing giant carrier capture cross-sections, orders of magnitude greater than those measured in ensembles.
The properties of materials can change dramatically at the nanoscale new and useful properties can emerge. An example is found in the paramagnetism in iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles. Using magnetically sensitive nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, we developed a platform to study electron spin resonance of nanoscale materials. To implement the platform, diamond substrates were prepared with nitrogen vacancy centers near the surface. Nanoparticles were placed on the surface using a drop casting technique. Using optical and microwave pulsing techniques, we demonstrated T1 relaxometry and double electron-electron resonance techniques for measuring the local electron spin resonance. The diamond NV platform developed in this project provides a combination of good magnetic field sensitivity and high spatial resolution and will be used for future investigations of nanomaterials and quantum materials.
This project focused on providing a fundamental physico-chemical understanding of the coupling mechanisms of corrosion- and radiation-induced degradation at material-salt interfaces in Ni-based alloys operating in emulated Molten Salt Reactor(MSR) environments through the use of a unique suite of aging experiments, in-situ nanoscale characterization experiments on these materials, and multi-physics computational models. The technical basis and capabilities described in this report bring us a step closer to accelerate the deployment of MSRs by closing knowledge gaps related to materials degradation in harsh environments.
We describe a method to automatically generate an ion implantation recipe, a set of energies and fluences, to produce a desired defect density profile in a solid using the fewest required energies. We simulate defect density profiles for a range of ion energies, fit them with an appropriate function, and interpolate to yield defect density profiles at arbitrary ion energies. Given N energies, we then optimize a set of N energy-fluence pairs to match a given target defect density profile. Finally, we find the minimum N such that the error between the target defect density profile and the defect density profile generated by the N energy-fluence pairs is less than a given threshold. Inspired by quantum sensing applications with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, we apply our technique to calculate optimal ion implantation recipes to create uniform-density 1 μm surface layers of 15N or vacancies (using 4He).
We evaluate the resilience of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) to displacement damage induced by heavy-ion irradiation. MTJs were exposed to 3-MeV Ta2+ ions at different levels of ion beam fluence spanning five orders of magnitude. The devices remained insensitive to beam fluences up to $10^{11}$ ions/cm2, beyond which a gradual degradation in the device magnetoresistance, coercive magnetic field, and spin-transfer-torque (STT) switching voltage were observed, ending with a complete loss of magnetoresistance at very high levels of displacement damage (>0.035 displacements per atom). The loss of magnetoresistance is attributed to structural damage at the MgO interfaces, which allows electrons to scatter among the propagating modes within the tunnel barrier and reduces the net spin polarization. Ion-induced damage to the interface also reduces the PMA. This study clarifies the displacement damage thresholds that lead to significant irreversible changes in the characteristics of STT magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) and elucidates the physical mechanisms underlying the deterioration in device properties.
Semiconductor-insulator interfaces play an important role in the reliability of integrated devices; however, the impact of these interfaces on the physical mechanisms related to single-event effects has not been previously reported. We present experimental data that demonstrate that single-event charge collection can be impacted by changes in interface quality. The experimental data, combined with simulations, show that single-event response may depend on surface recombination at interface defects. The effect depends on strike location and increases with increasing linear energy transfer (LET). Surface recombination can affect single-event charge collection for interfaces with a surface recombination velocity (SRV) of 1000 cm/s and is a dominant charge collection mechanism with SRV > 10^{5} cm/s.