It was a pleasure to welcome Professor Christoph Stampfer from RWTH Aachen University to the Cambridge Graphene Centre (CGC) for this week’s QAMSS SRI Lecture.
Prof. Stampfer gave an engaging talk titled “Quantum Dots and Cryogenic FETs Based on Bilayer Graphene”, presenting recent advances in the use of bilayer graphene (BLG) for both quantum and classical cryogenic electronics.
He explained how the electrically tunable band gap of BLG enables true electrostatic confinement, allowing the creation of gate-defined single and double quantum dots with single-electron or single-hole occupancy. These systems open the door to exploring spin and valley degrees of freedom and offer a pathway toward carbon-based spin qubits.
Prof. Stampfer also discussed the development of low-power cryogenic field-effect transistors (FETs) based on Bernal-stacked BLG, encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride and controlled by graphite gates. These devices achieve ultra-steep inverse subthreshold slopes down to 250 µV/dec at 0.1 K, approaching the Boltzmann limit. Their performance benefits from atomically sharp, defect-free interfaces in the van der Waals architecture, which suppress band tailing and enhance energy efficiency.
The lecture concluded with questions and discussion on how bilayer graphene could connect fundamental quantum confinement research with future cryogenic electronic applications. The QAMSS SRI team thanks Prof. Stampfer for his excellent talk and all participants for contributing to another successful lecture in the Michaelmas term series, which continues until 15 December.
