Radio-frequency (rf) reflectometry offers a fast and sensitive method for charge sensing and spin readout in gated quantum dots. We focus in this work on the implementation of rf readout in accumulation-mode gate-defined quantum dots, where the large parasitic capacitance poses a challenge. We describe and test two methods for mitigating the effect of the parasitic capacitance, one by on-chip modifications and a second by off-chip changes. We demonstrate that on-chip modifications enable high-performance charge readout in Si/Six${\mathrm{Ge}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$ quantum dots, achieving a fidelity of 99.9% for a measurement time of $1\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$.
Radio-frequency reflectometry techniques enable high-bandwidth readout of semiconductor quantum dots. Careful impedance matching of the resonant circuit is required to achieve high sensitivity, which, however, proves challenging at cryogenic temperatures. Gallium arsenide--based voltage-tunable capacitors, so-called varactor diodes, can be used for in situ tuning of the circuit impedance but deteriorate and fail at temperatures below 10 K and in magnetic fields. Here, we investigate a varactor based on strontium titanate with a hyperabrupt capacitance-voltage characteristic, i.e., a capacitance tunability similar to the best gallium arsenide--based devices. The varactor design introduced here is compact, scalable, and easy to wire bond, with an accessible capacitance range from 45 pF to 3.2 pF. We tune a resonant inductor-capacitor circuit to perfect impedance matching and observe robust temperature- and field-independent matching down to 11 mK and up to 2 T in-plane field. Finally, we perform gate-dispersive charge sensing on a germanium-silicon core-shell nanowire hole double quantum dot, paving the way toward gate-based single-shot spin readout. Our results bring small magnetic field--resilient highly tunable varactors to mK temperatures, expanding the toolbox of cryo-radio-frequency applications.
This thesis focuses on implementing radio frequency (rf) reflectometry techniques for dispersive detection of charge and spin dynamics in nanoscale devices. I have investigated three aspects of rf reflectometry using state-of-the-art silicon (Si) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) nanowire field effect transistors (NWFETs). First, a high-sensitivity capacitive gate-based charge sensor is developed by optimising the external matching circuit to detect capacitive changes in the high frequency resonator. A new circuit topology is used where superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) inductor is connected in parallel with a single-gate Si NWFET resulting in resonators with loaded Q-factors in the 400-800 range. For a resonator operating at 330 MHz, I have achieved a charge sensitivity of 7.7 μe/Hz and, when operating at 616 MHz, I get 1.3 μe/Hz. This gate-based sensor can be used for fast, accurate and scalable techniques for quantum state readout in Si CMOS based quantum computing. Second, this new circuit topology for the resonator is used with a dual-gate Si NWFET. This dual-gate device geometry provides access to a double quantum dot (DQD) system in few electron regime. The spin-state of the two-electron DQD system is detected dispersively using Pauli spin blockade between joint singlet S(2,0) and triplet T−(1,1) states in a finite magnetic field B. The singlet-triplet relaxation time T1 at B=4.5~T is measured to be $\sim$1 ms using standard homodyne detection technique. Third, I expand the range of applications of gate-based sensing to accurate temperature measurements. I have experimentally demonstrated a primary thermometer by embedding a single-gate Si NWFET with the rf capacitive gate-based sensor. The thermometer, termed as gate-based electron thermometer (GET), relies on cyclic electron tunneling between discrete energy levels of a quantum dot and a single electron reservoir in the NWFET. I have found that the full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of the resonator phase response depends linearly with temperature via well known physical law by using the ratio kB/e between the Boltzmann constant and the electron charge. The GET is also found to be magnetic field independent like other primary thermometers such as Coulomb blockade and shot noise thermometers.