High field ESR of P-doped Si for Quantum Computing Application

We measured ESR of phosphorous-doped silicon with a low concentration of P, n, at high magnetic fields and low temperatures to investigate the states of nuclear spin. A sample with n = 6.52 × 1016 /cm3 was studied at 2.85 T (80 GHz) from 30 K to 2.3 K by field-modulating cw-ESR for a fixed 0 dB power. As the temperature was lowered, the out-of-phase signal appeared around 18 K, reached at a maximum intensity at 13 K, and disappeared around 6 K. The out-of-phase signal is referred to the field modulation. The in-phase signal started to change from the derivative of absorption spectrum at high temperatures to absorption-like shape around 15 K and asymmetry of intensity for two peaks of hyperfine-separated signals increased as temperatures was lowered. Below 10 K, the saturation of the in-phase signal started to appear. We speculate that the asymmetry is caused by saturation effect and dynamic nuclear polarization of 31P nuclear spin due to drastic change of electron T1.