Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 12, 2025

Silicon Metal-oxide-semiconductor Quantum Dots for Single-electron Pumping
Published on: June 3, 2015
Probing hole spin transport of disorder quantum dots via Pauli spin-blockade in standard silicon transistors
Joseph Hillier1, Keiji Ono2, Kouta Ibukuro1
1School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Single hole transport and spin detection is achievable in standard p-type silicon transistors owing to the strong orbital quantization of disorder based quantum dots. Through the use of the well acting as a pseudo-gate, we discover the formation of a double-quantum dot system exhibiting Pauli spin-blockade and investigate the magnetic field dependence of the leakage current. This enables attributes that are key to hole spin state control to be determined, where we calculate a tunnel couplingtof 57μeV and a short spin-orbit lengthlSOof 250 nm. The demonstrated strong spin-orbit interaction at the interface when using disorder based quantum dots supports electric-field mediated control. These results provide further motivation that a readily scalable platform such as industry standard silicon technology can be used to investigate interactions which are useful for quantum information processing.
Related Concept Videos
The Pauli Exclusion Principle
Valence Bond Theory
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Overview
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Carrier Transport
Drift Current:
The drift of charge carriers is started by an external electric field (E). Charged particles, such as electrons and holes, experience an acceleration between collisions with lattice atoms. For electrons, this results in a drift velocity (vd) given by:
Spin–Spin Coupling Constant: Overview
Qualitatively, any spin plus-half nucleus polarizes the spins of its electrons to the minus-half state. Consequently, the paired electron in the hydrogen–carbon bond must...

