Silicon-based color-centers (SiCCs) have recently emerged as quantum-light sources that can be combined with telecom-range Si Photonics platforms. Unfortunately, using current SiCC fabrication, deterministic control over the vertical emitter position is impossible due to ion-implantation's stochastic nature. To overcome this bottleneck towards high-yield integration, we demonstrate a radically innovative creation method for various SiCCs, solely relying on epitaxial growth of Si and C-doped Si at atypically-low temperatures in a ultra-clean growth environment. These telecom emitters can be confined within sub-1nm thick layers embedded at arbitrary vertical positions within a highly crystalline Si matrix. Tuning growth conditions and doping, different SiCC types, e.g., W-centers, T-centers, G-centers, or derivatives like G'-centers can be created, which are particularly promising as Si-based single-photon sources and spin-photon interfaces. The zero-phonon emission from G'-centers can be conveniently tuned by the C-concentration, leading to a systematic wavelength shift and linewidth narrowing towards low emitter densities.
@article{arxiv.2402.19227,
title = {All epitaxial self-assembly of vertically-confined silicon color centers using ultra-low temperature epitaxy},
author = {Johannes Aberl and Enrique Prado Navarrete and Merve Karaman and Diego Haya Enriquez and Christoph Wilflingseder and Andreas Salomon and Daniel Primetzhofer and Markus Andreas Schubert and Giovanni Capellini and Thomas Fromherz and Peter Deák and Péter Udvarhelyi and Li Song and Ádám Gali and Moritz Brehm},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.19227},
year = {2024}
}