Room-Temperature Measurement of Electrostatically Coupled, Dopant-Atom Double Quantum Dots in Point-Contact Transistors

Single-atom transistors hold great promise for reducing semiconductor devices to their ultimate scale, approaching atomic dimensions. Typically these transistors use dopant atoms embedded in a semiconductor to form quantum-dot switches; unfortunately, in this approach shallow potential wells restrict device operation to cryogenic temperatures. This work extends the operation of single-atom transistors to $r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m$ $t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e$, by embedding dopant atoms in SiO${}_{2}$ tunnel barriers to form deep quantum wells. Nearby dopant atoms can communicate electrostatically, forming double quantum dots, opening a route toward practical, room-temperature atomic-scale quantum electronics.