Extended interface states enhance valley splitting in Si/SiO2

A. L. Saraiva, Belita Koiller, and Mark Friesen
Phys. Rev. B 82, 245314 – Published 15 December 2010

Abstract

Interface disorder and its effect on valley degeneracy in the conduction band present an important theoretical challenge for operating spin qubits in silicon. Here, we demonstrate and investigate a counterintuitive effect occurring at Si/SiO2 interfaces. By applying tight-binding methods, we show that intrinsic interface states can hybridize with conventional valley states to produce an anomalously large ground-state energy gap. Such hybridization effects have not previously been explored in detail for valley splitting. We find that the splitting can be enhanced by disorder in the chemical bonds at the interface, in agreement with recent experiments.

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  • Received 22 November 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.245314

©2010 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. L. Saraiva1,2, Belita Koiller1, and Mark Friesen2

  • 1Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Caixa Postal 68528, 21941-972 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
  • 2University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

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Vol. 82, Iss. 24 — 15 December 2010

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