Low-temperature tunable radio-frequency resonator for sensitive dispersive readout of nanoelectronic devices

International audienceWe present a sensitive, tunable radio-frequency resonator designed to detect reactive changes in nanoelectronic devices down to dilution refrigerator temperatures. The resonator incorporates GaAs varicap diodes to allow electrical tuning of the resonant frequency and the coupling to the input line. We find a resonant frequency tuning range of 8.4 MHz at 55 mK that increases to 29 MHz at 1.5 K. To assess the impact on performance of different tuning conditions, we connect a quantum dot in a silicon nanowire field-effect transistor to the resonator and measure changes in the device capacitance caused by cyclic electron tunneling. At 250 mK, we obtain an equivalent charge sensitivity of 43 mu e/root Hz when the resonator and the line are impedance-matched and show that this sensitivity can be further improved to 31 mu e/root Hz by re-tuning the resonator. We understand this improvement by using an equivalent circuit model and demonstrate that for maximum sensitivity to capacitance changes, in addition to impedance matching, a high-quality resonator with low parasitic capacitance is desired