Sandia Labs FY22 Laboratory Directed Research & Development Annual Report

WIDE-BANDGAP SEMICONDUCTORS BENEFIT FROM DEVELOPMENT OF SINGLE-PHOTON SOURCES IN GALLIUM NITRIDE. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a very hard, mechanically

the origin of recently observed (and to be created) single photon emission in GaN. Through this project, the team developed new techniques for improving the accuracy of Sandia’s unique nano-focused ion beam implantation capabilities and created new capabilities for characterizing color centers through focused ion beam implantation. These techniques and capabilities benefit WBG semiconductors used in military, radio and power conversion applications, and act as a foundational technology for new electrical grid and alternative energy devices and vehicles. (PI: Andrew Mounce)

stable wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor that permits devices to operate at much higher voltages, frequencies, and temperatures, and is a key component in LEDs, lasers, and certain radio frequency applications. Single-photon emitting color centers (defects or substituted atoms with optical transitions within the host’s bandgap) in WBG semiconductors are an important platform for quantum information sciences and can provide both on-demand single photons and long-lived quantum spin states.

Recent demonstration of single photon emission in GaN and the utility of GaN for LED lighting and high-power electronics led the LDRD team, which included faculty member Kevin Jones at Sandia National/Regional partner University of Florida and faculty member Victor Acosta at Sandia Alliance partner University of New Mexico, to investigate the creation and understanding of single photon emitters in GaN. The energy levels of color centers from defects and transition metal substitutions in GaN were calculated using Sandia-created SeqQuest density functional theory (DFT) code, which avoids typical inaccuracies of DFT for wide bandgap semiconductors, to better understand Andy Mounce, Sandia researcher and PI of the “Development of Single Photon Sources in GaN” project, was one of four employees in the nation to earn DOE’s Early Career Research Award in 2022.

Single-photon sources based on atom-like features in solid-state materials offer the prospect for integrated, on-demand solid-state platforms and are being intensively explored for numerous mission-related quantum information technologies. New techniques for improving the accuracy of Sandia’s unique nano-focused ion beam implantation capabilities were developed through this LDRD project.

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LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT