Orbital and valley state spectra of a few-electron silicon quantum dot

Abstract

Understanding interactions between orbital and valley quantum states in silicon nanodevices is crucial in assessing the prospects of spin-based qubits. We study the energy spectra of a few-electron silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot using dynamic charge sensing and pulsed-voltage spectroscopy. The occupancy of the quantum dot is probed down to the single-electron level using a nearby single-electron transistor as a charge sensor. The energy of the first orbital excited state is found to decrease rapidly as the electron occupancy increases from $N=1$ to 4. By monitoring the sequential spin filling of the dot we extract a valley splitting of $\ensuremath{\sim}230\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}$eV, irrespective of electron number. This indicates that favorable conditions for qubit operation are in place in the few-electron regime.