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Updated: May 30, 2026

Silicon Metal-oxide-semiconductor Quantum Dots for Single-electron Pumping
Published on: June 3, 2015
Spin filling of valley-orbit states in a silicon quantum dot
W H Lim1, C H Yang, F A Zwanenburg
1Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. wee.lim@unsw.edu.au
Abstract:
We report the demonstration of a low-disorder silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (Si MOS) quantum dot containing a tunable number of electrons from zero to N = 27. The observed evolution of addition energies with parallel magnetic field reveals the spin filling of electrons into valley-orbit states. We find a splitting of 0.10 meV between the ground and first excited states, consistent with theory and placing a lower bound on the valley splitting. Our results provide optimism for the realisation in the near future of spin qubits based on silicon quantum dots.
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