Near-Surface Te+ 125 Spins with Millisecond Coherence Lifetime

Abstract

Impurity spins in crystal matrices are promising components in quantum technologies, particularly if they can maintain their spin properties when close to surfaces and material interfaces. Here, we investigate an attractive candidate for microwave-domain applications, the spins of group-VI Te+125 donors implanted into natural Si at depths as shallow as 20 nm. We show that surface band bending can be used to ionize such near-surface Te to spin-active Te+ state, and that optical illumination can be used further to control the Te donor charge state. We examine spin activation yield, spin linewidth, and relaxation (T1) and coherence times (T2) and show how a zero-field 3.5 GHz "clock transition"extends spin coherence times to over 1 ms, which is about an order of magnitude longer than other near-surface spin systems.