Research Projects

In this quantum computing era, nano-electronic circuit elements with thousands of transistors, capacitors, diodes, etc., in the micro-to-nanometer dimensions, become an inevitable part of quantum circuits. Due to the nano dimensions of the elements, the transport processes are quantum coherent, which brings the quantum advantages of the circuits to operate more efficiently, thanks to their quantum nature. However, the main issue in the operation of nano-electronic circuits comes due to the unavoidable Joule dissipations produced during their operation. If this heat is not thermalized properly, it can cause overheating and hence faults in the circuit, such as losses of coherence. Therefore, proper heat management in the quantum nano-electronic circuits is important for the efficient operation of the quantum devices. To address these issues, we propose to develop the electromigration technique to build quantum-dot transistors and measure heat transport through these devices to optimize heat thermalization. Electromigration is a process where the atoms in the weakest part of a conductor get migrated due to the flow of a large amount of current and eventually breaking the conductor with a nanometer-size gap in the conductor. This technique will be used to create nano-gap junctions and subsequently by grafting nanoparticles QD transistors with integrated probes will be developed. The main objectives of the proposal are the following: • Develop in-situ room-temperature Electromigration techniques for creating nano-gap junctions to build quantum-dot (QD) transistors. • Measure heat and thermoelectric transport in quantum-dot transistors, to investigate the role of quantum phenomena in the optimization of thermalization and heat management and utilize it for thermoelectric energy conversion. Here, we will develop the electromigration setup to build quantum-dot transistor devices with metallic nano-particles, integrated with the local probes to measure thermal and thermoelectric transport through single electronic levels. The discrete levels with the quantum nature are expected to have advantages in the optimized operation of quantum devices, which can be tested with the proposed measurements. The successful implementation of the project would allow us to develop the electromigration technique to build QD-transistors and probe the heat transport through it, which will be eventually useful for optimizing heat management and thermalization in quantum devices, thereby making them more efficient and error-free. Therefore, our proposal should play an important role in the field of quantum heat transport and thermodynamics.