An in-situ single photon source detection platform for deterministic nanometer resolution ion implantation

Single photon sources (SPS) are of interest for usages from metrology to the basis of quantum communication, computation and sensing. SPS based on color centers in SiC and other wide band gap semiconductors such as hBN, diamond, etc. require the control over both the positioning as well as the number of optically active color centers. We have developed focused ion beam implantation using our nanoImplanter (nI) which allows spatial control to <50 nm and implantation down to single impurity atoms using counted ion implantation. However, the typical conversion efficiency from implanted impurity atom to optically active color center can range from <3% to >80% depending on the material and the implantation energy. For these low efficiency processes an in-situ technique to identity the creation of SPS is required. To this end we have designed an in-situ photoluminescence (PL) setup integrated into the nI allowing for detection of single photon emission during ion implantation. Using this PL setup in conjunction with a Hanbury Brown Twiss interferometer allows us to deterministically create and measure single color centers in a range of materials systems with nanometer resolution.