Probing the spin state of a single electron trap by random telegraph signal

We have studied the random telegraph signal (RTS) generated by a single paramagnetic spin center adjacent to a submicrometer silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor. An in-plane magnetic field induces a substantial change in the statistics of the RTS. We show that a model using the grand partition theorem can qualitatively explain the change in statistics of the RTS as a function of the applied magnetic field. While the data at high temperatures can be well described by this simple model, quantitative discrepancy increases as the temperature is lowered.