Effects of single-electron charging in a tunnel structure with a metallic cluster

The effects of single-electron tunnel charging and Coulomb blockade in a cluster structure (molecular transistor) are studied theoretically with allowance for the quantization of the electronic levels in an island electrode. The electronic spectrum is calculated for small spherical and disk-shaped clusters. Under the assumption that the total energy of the system is conserved with inclusion of the contact potential difference, equations are derived for analyzing the current-voltage characteristic. Limitations associated with the Coulomb instability of a cluster and with electron relaxation are introduced into the theory. For single-electron transistors with small gold clusters, the current gap and the asymmetry in its position on the voltage axis are calculated. The current gap is shown to vary nonmonotonically with the cluster size.     

Single-electron transistor with an island formed by several dopant phosphorus atoms

We present the results of an experimental study of electron transport through individual phosphorus dopants implanted into a silicon crystal. We developed an original technique for single-electron transistor fabrication from silicon-on-insulator material with an island formed by single phosphorus atoms. The proposed method is based on well-known CMOS compatible technological processes that are standard in semiconductor electronics and may be used in most research groups. The large Coulomb blockade energy value of the investigated single-electron transistor (～20 meV) allows one to observe single-electron effects in a wide temperature range up to 77 K. We measured and analyzed stability diagrams of fabricated experimental structures. We demonstrated a single-electron transistor with controllable electron transport through two to three phosphorus dopants only.     

Single-electron pumping in a ZnO single-nanobelt quantum dot transistor

Diluted magnetic semiconductors(DMSs)have traditionally been employed to implement spin-based quantum computing and quantum information processing.However,their low Curie temperature is a major hurdle in their use in this field,which creates the necessity for wide bandgap DMSs operating at room temperature.In view of this,a single-electron transistor(SET)with a global back-gate was built using a wide bandgap ZnO nanobelt(NB).Clear Coulomb oscillations were observed at 4.2 K.The periodicity of the Coulomb diamonds indicates that the Coulomb oscillations arise from single quantum dots of uniform size,whereas quasi-periodic Coulomb diamonds correspond to the contribution of multi-dots present in the ZnO NB.By applying an AC signal to the global back-gate across a Coulomb peak with varying frequencies,single-electron pumping was observed;the increase in current was equal to the production of electron charge and frequency.The current accuracy of about 1%for both single-and double-electron pumping was achieved at a high frequency of 25 MHz.This accurate single-electron pumping makes the ZnO NB SET suitable for single-spin injection and detection,which has great potential for applications in quantum information technology.     

Blockade of tunneling in a suspended single-electron transistor

The tunneling of electrons that is limited by the Coulomb blockade effect in a single-electron transistor with a quantum dot based on a narrow GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire suspended over a substrate is investigated. By means of a direct comparison experiment, the tunneling features associated with the separation of the quantum dot from the substrate are revealed. In addition to an increase in the charge energy (Coulomb gap), which reaches 170 K in temperature units, the dependence of this energy on the number of electrons in the quantum dot, which varies from zero to four, is observed. This dependence is explained by a change in the effective size of the dot due to the effect of the depleting gate voltage. Moreover, the additional blockade of tunneling that is different from the Coulomb blockade and is specific for suspended structures is observed. It is shown that this blockade is not associated with the dynamical effect of exciting local phonon modes and can be attributed to the change in the static elastic strains in the quantum wire that accompany the tunneling of an electron to/from the quantum dot.     

Two-electron impurity in the parabolic quantum dot: Uncertainty relation and perturbation approach

Two-electron impurity states in parabolic confinement have been investigated. We have estimated the ground-state energy value, using the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. Using variational methods the ground state energy and wave function of the single-electron impurity problem have been achieved. The dependence of ground-state energy and Coulomb electron–electron interaction energy correction on the QD size is studied. The dependence of the state exchange time on the QD radius has been calculated. It has been shown that the presence of the impurity leads to the appearance of negative values of the energy of the system on the one hand, and to the saturating character of the state exchange time.     

Single-electron tunneling with strong mechanical feedback

A harmonic nanomechanical oscillator with a high quality factor weakly coupled to a single-electron tunneling device can provide a strong feedback for electron transport. Strong feedback occurs in a narrow voltage range just above the Coulomb blockade threshold. In this regime, current is strongly modified and current noise is drastically enhanced compared to the Schottky value.     

Fabrication and electrical properties of a carbon nanotube quantum dot

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were synthesized by pyrolyzing methane (CH₄) at a temperature of 900℃ on SiO₂ substrates pre-coated with iron nano-particles. Electrical contacts were fabricated onto one of the SWNTs by using an electron beam lithography process. Coulomb blockade and single-electron tunnelling characters were found at low temperatures, indicating that the SWNT in-between the electrodes forms a quantum dot. It is found that the Coulomb gap of the quantum dot is about 8.57 meV, and the factor \alpha , which converts the gate voltage to the true electrostatic potential shift, is around 200 for this device.     

Maxwell's demons realized in electronic circuits

We review recent progress in making the former gedanken experiments of Maxwell's demon [1] into real experiments in a lab. In particular, we focus on realizations based on single-electron tunneling in electronic circuits. We first present how stochastic thermodynamics can be investigated in these circuits. Next we review recent experiments on an electron-based Szilard engine. Finally, we report on experiments on single-electron tunneling-based cooling, overviewing the recent realization of a Coulomb gap refrigerator, as well as an autonomous Maxwell's demon.     

Metallic ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model: a rigorous example

We present the first rigorous example of the Hubbard model in any dimension which exhibits metallic ferromagnetism. The model is a genuine Hubbard model with short-range hopping and on-site Coulomb repulsion, and has many single-electron bands. In the limit where the band gap and the Coulomb repulsion become infinite, we prove that the ground states are completely ferromagnetic and at the same time conducting.     

通过单电子泵实现对单电子运动的控制及其相图分析

介绍了单电子泵的工作原理，讨论了如何利用库仑阻塞和单电子隧穿实现对单电子泵中单个电子运动的控制，从而给出它的相图，并由此得到了单电子泵的一个重要用途，即控制微小电流.指出栅极可能引入的随机电荷对单电子泵的应用并无影响. 关键词： 单电子泵 库仑阻塞 相图     

Radio-frequency single-electron refrigerator

We propose a cyclic refrigeration principle based on mesoscopic electron transport. Synchronous sequential tunneling of electrons in a Coulomb-blockaded device, a normal metal-superconductor single-electron box, results in a cooling power of approximately k(B)T x f at temperature T over a wide range of cycle frequencies f. Electrostatic work, done by the gate voltage source, removes heat from the Coulomb island with an efficiency of approximately k(B)T/Delta, where Delta is the superconducting gap parameter. The performance is not affected significantly by nonidealities, for instance by offset charges. We propose ways of characterizing the system and of its practical implementation.     

Coulomb promotion of spin-dependent tunneling

We study transport of spin-polarized electrons through a magnetic single-electron transistor (SET) in the presence of an external magnetic field. Assuming the SET to have a nanometer size central island with a single-electron level we find that the interplay on the island between coherent spin-flip dynamics and Coulomb interactions can make the Coulomb correlations promote rather than suppress the current through the device. We find the criteria for this new phenomenon--Coulomb promotion of spin-dependent tunneling--to occur.     

COULOMB BLOCKADE OSCILLATIONS OF Si SINGLE-ELECTRON TRANSISTORS

Coulomb blockade oscillations of Si single-electron transistors, which are fabricated completely by the conventional photolithography technique, have been investigated. Most of the single-electron transistors clearly show Coulomb blockade oscillations and these oscillations can be periodic by applying negative voltages to the in-plane gates. A shift of the peak positions is observed at high temperatures. It is also found that the fluctuation of the peak spacing cannot be neglected.     

Single-electron tunneling and Coulomb blockade in carbon-based quantum dots

Single-electron tunneling (SET) and Coulomb blockade (CB) phenomena have been widely observed in nanoscaled electronics and have received intense attention around the world. In the past few years, we have studied SET in carbon nanotube fragments and fullerenes by applying the so-called “Orthodox” theory [28]. As outlined in this review article, we investigated the single-electron charging and discharging process via current-voltage characteristics, gate effect, and electronic structure-related factors. Because the investigated geometric structures are three-dimensionally confined, resulting in a discrete spectrum of energy levels resembling the property of quantum dots, we evidenced the CB and Coulomb staircases in these structures. These nanostructures are sufficiently small that introducing even a single electron is sufficient to dramatically change the transport properties as a result of the charging energy associated with this extra electron. We found that the Coulomb staircases occur in the I–V characteristics only when the width of the left barrier junction is smaller than that of the right barrier junction. In this case, the transmission coefficient of the emitter junction is larger than that of the collector junction; also, occupied levels enter the bias window, thereby enhancing the tunneling extensively.      

Coulomb explosion patterns of fast C60 clusters in solids

The molecular dynamics method is used to simulate Coulomb explosion of fast C60 ion clusters in an Al target, taking into account dynamical screening of interionic interactions by the electron gas of the target. It is found that the wake forces in the medium are strong enough, depending on cluster speed, to stabilize the whole cluster against Coulomb explosion, or to compress the trailing part of the cluster, for prolonged times of penetration through the target. This is encouraging news for such cluster-ion beams applications where massive energy depositions in small volumes of targets are desired.     

Calculation of current induced by photon momentum in gaseous argon

The current induced by photon momentum in gaseous argon has been calculated in the single-electron approximation as well as with atomic electron correlations taken into account. It has been found that both the magnitude of the current and its direction relative to the photon momentum are dependent on photon energy.     

Current fluctuation spectrum in dissipative solid-state qubits

We present a formalism to calculate frequency dependent electron current noise for transport through two-level systems (such as coupled quantum dots or Cooper-pair boxes) in presence of dissipation. Perturbation theories in various regimes are formulated within a matrix scheme in Laplace scheme which we evaluate in detail both for weak and strong coupling to a bosonic environment.Received: 12 December 2003, Published online: 10 August 2004PACS: 72.70. + m Noise processes and phenomena - 73.23.Hk Coulomb blockade; single-electron tunneling     

Pair Tunneling through Single Molecules

By a polaronic energy shift, the effective charging energy of molecules can become negative, favoring ground states with even numbers of electrons. Here we show that charge transport through such molecules near ground-state degeneracies is dominated by tunneling of electron pairs which coexists with (featureless) single-electron cotunneling. Because of the restricted phase space for pair tunneling, the current-voltage characteristics exhibit striking differences from the conventional Coulomb blockade. In asymmetric junctions, pair tunneling can be used for gate-controlled current rectification and switching.     

Differential Single-Capture Cross Sections for Fast Alpha–Helium Collisions

A four-body theoretical study of the single charge transfer process in collision of energetic alpha ions with helium atoms in their ground states is presented. The model utilizes the Coulomb–Born distorted wave approximation with correct boundary conditions to calculate the single-electron capture differential and integral cross sections. The influence of the dynamic and static electron correlations on the capture probability is investigated. The results of the calculations are compared with the recent experimental measurements for differential cross sections and with the other theoretical manipulations. The results for scattering at extreme forward angles are in good agreement with the experimental measurements, but in other scattering angles the agreement is poor. However, the present four-body results for integral cross sections are in excellent agreement with the experimental data.     

SINGLE-ELECTRON TRANSISTORS FOR FUTURE APPLICATIONS

Single electron transistors with wire channels are fabricated by a nanoelectrode-pair technique. Their characteristics strongly depend on the channel widths and the voltages on the in-plane gates. A few dips in the Coulomb blockade oscillations were observed at the less positive gate voltages for a device with a 70nm-wide wire due to Coulomb blockade between the coupled dots. By applying negative voltages to the in-plane gates, the oscillations became periodic, which indicated the formation of a single dot in the conducting channel. These gates facilitate fabricating single-electron transistors with single dot structures, which have potential applications on its integration.