Observing sub-microsecond telegraph noise with the radio frequency single electron transistor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of a radio frequency single electron transistor to observe and analyze sub-microsecond telegraph noise in semiconductor quantum devices, revealing its dependence on local electrostatic conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method using rf-SET to study telegraph noise and shows how single-electron trapping dynamics are influenced by surface gate biases.

Findings

Frequent observation of micro-second telegraph noise in quantum device architectures

Telegraph noise strength varies with surface gate bias

Controlled capture and emission of single electrons in charge traps

Abstract

Telegraph noise, which originates from the switching of charge between meta-stable trapping sites, becomes increasingly important as device sizes approach the nano-scale. For charge-based quantum computing, this noise may lead to decoherence and loss of read out fidelity. Here we use a radio frequency single electron transistor (rf-SET) to probe the telegraph noise present in a typical semiconductor-based quantum computer architecture. We frequently observe micro-second telegraph noise, which is a strong function of the local electrostatic potential defined by surface gate biases. We present a method for studying telegraph noise using the rf-SET and show results for a charge trap in which the capture and emission of a single electron is controlled by the bias applied to a surface gate.