Single phosphorus ions implantation into prefabricated nanometre cells of silicon devices for quantum qubits fabrication

In the near future, devices that employ single atoms to store or manipulate information will be constructed. For example, a solid-state quantum computer has been proposed that encodes information in the nuclear spin of shallow arrays of single /sup 31/P atoms (qubits) in a matrix of pure silicon. Construction of these devices presents formidable challenges. One strategy is to use single ion implantation, with energy range of 10 to 20 keV, to load the qubits into prefabricated cells of the device with a nanometre structure. We have developed a method of single ion implantation that employs detector electrodes adjacent to the prefabricated qubit cells that can detect on-line single keV ion strikes appropriate for the fabrication of shallow arrays.