This thesis focuses on implementing radio frequency (rf) reflectometry techniques for dispersive detection of charge and spin dynamics in nanoscale devices. I have investigated three aspects of rf reflectometry using state-of-the-art silicon (Si) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) nanowire field effect transistors (NWFETs). First, a high-sensitivity capacitive gate-based charge sensor is developed by optimising the external matching circuit to detect capacitive changes in the high frequency resonator. A new circuit topology is used where superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) inductor is connected in parallel with a single-gate Si NWFET resulting in resonators with loaded Q-factors in the 400-800 range. For a resonator operating at 330 MHz, I have achieved a charge sensitivity of 7.7 $\mu e/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ and, when operating at 616 MHz, I get 1.3 $\mu e/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$. This gate-based sensor can be used for fast, accurate and scalable techniques for quantum state readout in Si CMOS based quantum computing. Second, this new circuit topology for the resonator is used with a dual-gate Si NWFET. This dual-gate device geometry provides access to a double quantum dot (DQD) system in few electron regime. The spin-state of the two-electron DQD system is detected dispersively using Pauli spin blockade between joint singlet S(2,0) and triplet T$_-$(1,1) states in a finite magnetic field $B$. The singlet-triplet relaxation time $T_1$ at $B=4.5$~T is measured to be $\sim$1 ms using standard homodyne detection technique. Third, I expand the range of applications of gate-based sensing to accurate temperature measurements. I have experimentally demonstrated a primary thermometer by embedding a single-gate Si NWFET with the rf capacitive gate-based sensor. The thermometer, termed as gate-based electron thermometer (GET), relies on cyclic electron tunneling between discrete energy levels of a quantum dot and a single electron reservoir in the NWFET. I have found that the full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of the resonator phase response depends linearly with temperature via well known physical law by using the ratio $k_\text{B}/e$ between the Boltzmann constant and the electron charge. The GET is also found to be magnetic field independent like other primary thermometers such as Coulomb blockade and shot noise thermometers.

This thesis describes experiments on quantum dots made by locally gating one-dimensional quantum wires. The first experiment studies a double quantum dot device formed in a Ge/Si core/shell nanowire. In addition to measuring transport through the double dot, we detect changes in the charge occupancy of the double dot by capacitively coupling it to a third quantum dot on a separate nanowire using a floating gate. We demonstrate tunable tunnel coupling of the double dot and quantify the strength of the tunneling using the charge sensor. The second set of experiments concerns carbon nanotube double quantum dots. In the first nanotube experiment, spin-dependent transport through the double dot is compared in two sets of devices. The first set is made with carbon containing the natural abundance of \(^{12}C\) (99%) and \(^{13}C\) (1%), the second set with the 99% \(^{13}C\) and 1% \(^{12}C\). In the devices with predominantly \(^{13}C\), we find evidence in spin-dependent transport of the interaction between the electron spins and the \(^{13}C\) nuclear spins that was much stronger than expected and not present in the \(^{12}C\) devices. In the second nanotube experiment, pulsed gate experiments are used to measure the timescales of spin relaxation and dephasing in a two-electron double quantum dot. The relaxation time is longest at zero magnetic field and goes through a minimum at higher field, consistent with the spin-orbit-modified electronic spectrum of carbon nanotubes. We measure a short dephasing time consistent with the anomalously strong electron-nuclear interaction inferred from the first nanotube experiment. / Physics