Atom–by–Atom Fabrication of Single and Few Dopant Quantum Devices

Atomically precise fabrication has an important role to play in developing atom-based electronic devices for use in quantum information processing, quantum materials research, and quantum sensing. Atom-by-atom fabrication has the potential to enable precise control over tunnel coupling, exchange coupling, on-site charging energies, and other key properties of basic devices needed for solid-state quantum computing and analog quantum simulation. Using hydrogen-based scanning probe lithography, individual dopant atoms are deterministically placed relative to atomically aligned contacts and gates to build single electron transistors, single atom transistors, and gate-controlled quantum sensing devices. Here, the key steps required to fabricate and demonstrate the essential building blocks needed for spin selective initialization/readout and coherent quantum manipulation are described.