Single-charge tunneling in uncoupled boron-doped silicon nanochains

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements have been performed on boron-doped silicon nanochains (BDSNs). STM results suggest BDSNs may be an excellent nanostructure to build single-charge tunneling transistors. STS measurements clearly reveal Coulomb blockade (CB) effects in BDSN at 25 K with a large charging energy, which should make CB effect observable even at RT. The CB characteristics are attributed to boron- or impurity-induced local states at the surface or interface. The experimental results suggest the possibility of realizing single-charge nanodevices by exploiting boron- or defect-induced charge trapping and de-trapping processes at the nanoparticles of BDSNs.