Gate reflectometry in dense quantum dot arrays

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates high-bandwidth gate reflectometry for dense silicon quantum dot arrays, enabling efficient charge detection and control crucial for scaling quantum processors.

Contribution

It introduces a method to monitor and control a 2x2 quantum dot array using a single gate reflectometry, simplifying scalability and enhancing readout in dense quantum devices.

Findings

Single-electron occupation detected in all four dots

High-bandwidth detection of electron movements

Charge sensing without adjacent reservoirs

Abstract

Silicon quantum devices are maturing from academic single- and two-qubit devices to industrially-fabricated dense quantum-dot (QD) arrays, increasing operational complexity and the need for better pulsed-gate and readout techniques. We perform gate-voltage pulsing and gate-based reflectometry measurements on a dense 2$\times$2 array of silicon quantum dots fabricated in a 300-mm-wafer foundry. Utilizing the strong capacitive couplings within the array, it is sufficient to monitor only one gate electrode via high-frequency reflectometry to establish single-electron occupation in each of the four dots and to detect single-electron movements with high bandwidth. A global top-gate electrode adjusts the overall tunneling times, while linear combinations of side-gate voltages yield detailed charge stability diagrams. To test for spin physics and Pauli spin blockade at finite magnetic fields, we implement symmetric gate-voltage pulses that directly reveal bidirectional interdot charge relaxation as a function of the detuning between two dots. Charge sensing within the array can be established without the involvement of adjacent electron reservoirs, important for scaling such split-gate devices towards longer 2$\times$N arrays. Our techniques may find use in the scaling of few-dot spin-qubit devices to large-scale quantum processors.