A non-invasive method for nanoscale electrostatic gating of pristine materials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-invasive, vacuum-separated flip-chip method for nanoscale electrostatic gating that preserves pristine material properties, enabling advanced quantum phenomena studies without damaging the material.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel flip-chip setup with vacuum separation for nanoscale electrostatic gating, avoiding invasive nano-fabrication processes.

Findings

Achieved quantum interference at integer quantum Hall states.

Demonstrated preservation of high-quality 2DEG properties.

Enabled studies of fragile fractional quantum Hall states.

Abstract

Electrostatic gating is essential for defining and control of semiconducting devices. However, nano-fabrication processes required for depositing gates inevitably degrade the pristine quality of the material of interest. Examples of materials that suffer from such degradation include ultra-high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs), graphene, topological insulators, and nanowires. To preserve the pristine material properties, we have developed a flip-chip setup where gates are separated from the material by a vacuum, which allows nanoscale electrostatic gating of the material without exposing it to invasive nano-processing. An additional benefit is the vacuum between gates and material, which, unlike gate dielectrics, is free from charge traps. We demonstrate the operation and feasibility of the flip-chip setup by achieving quantum interference at integer quantum Hall states in a Fabry-P\'erot interferometer based on a GaAs/AlGaAs 2DEG. Our results pave the way for the study of exotic phenomena including fragile fractional quantum Hall states by preserving the high quality of the material.