Metallic single-electron transistor without traditional tunnel barriers
V.A. Krupenina,
A.B. Zorinb,
D.E. Presnovb,
M.N. Savvateeva,
J. Niemeyerc aLomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics, Laboratory of Cryoelectronics, Vorob'evy Gory, Moscow, 119992, Russia , Moscow , Russia bLomonosov Moscow State University, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Leninskie Gory 1 build. 2, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation cPhysikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany
We report a new type of single-electron transistor (SET) comprising two highly resistive Cr thin-film strips ($\sim1$ $\mu$m long) connecting a $1 \mu$m-long Al island to two Al outer electrodes. These resistors replace small-area oxide tunnel junctions of traditional SETs. Our transistor with a total asymptotic resistance of $110$ k$\Omega$ showed a very sharp Coulomb blockade and reproducible, deep and strictly eperiodic gate modulation in wide ranges of bias currents $I$ and gate voltages $V_g$. In the Coulomb blockade region ($|V|\leqslant$ about $0.5$ mV), we observed a strong suppression of the co-tunneling current allowing appreciable modulation curves $V(V_g)$ to be measured at currents $I$ as low as $100$ fA. The noise figure of our SET was found to be similar to that of typical Al/AlO$_x$/Al single-electron transistors, viz. $\delta Q\approx5\times 10^{-4}e/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ at $10$ Hz.
PACS:71.30.+h, 73.23.Hk, 74.50.+r, 74.76.-w (all) DOI:10.1070/1063-7869/44/10S/S25 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2001/13/y/ Citation: Krupenin V A, Zorin A B, Presnov D E, Savvateev M N, Niemeyer J "Metallic single-electron transistor without traditional tunnel barriers" Phys. Usp.44 113–116 (2001)