Nanoelectronics
Semiconductor-based technology platforms for data communication, processing, and storage based on quantum phenomena are becoming increasingly more important. In the near future, the range of electronic applications and functionalities is expected to further increase due to quantum computing, secure data communication, and artificial intelligence. This development is based on fundamental and applied research on quantum effects and quantum mechanical quantities including the coupling of electronic quantum states and the coherent transport between them, spin transport, as well as transport by resonant tunneling. In the long run, the application of coherent quantum effects may revolutionize information technology.
The CReA Nanoelectronics explores quantum effects and quantum transport of electrons as well as spins in artificial hetero- and nanostructures, ionic transport in solid electrolytes, and materials for topological insulators. Nanoscale quantum circuits fabricated by electron-beam lithography are investigated by transport experiments at very low temperatures and also in high magnetic fields. Quantum transport is also investigated under the influence of superconductivity. Spin transport is studied for ferromagnet/nonmagnet hybrid structures in the fields of two-dimensional (2D) and oxide spintronics with the goal to identify and understand novel phenomena relevant for opto-spintronic device concepts. Topological insulators are also an interesting system for the realization of spin transport, since they contain metallic helical surface states, for which spin and momentum are coupled to each other.