Silicon quantum dots: fine-tuning to maturity

Quantum dots in semiconductor heterostructures provide one of the most flexible platforms for the study of quantum phenomena at the nanoscale. The surging interest in using quantum dots for quantum computation is forcing researchers to rethink fabrication and operation methods, to obtain highly tunable dots in spin-free host materials, such as silicon. Borselli and colleagues report in Nanotechnology the fabrication of a novel Si/SiGe double quantum dot device, which combines an ultra-low disorder Si/SiGe accumulation-mode heterostructure with a stack of overlapping control gates, ensuring tight confining potentials and exquisite tunability. This work signals the technological maturity of silicon quantum dots, and their readiness to be applied to challenging projects in quantum information science.