Fabrication and Characteristics of Self-Aligned Dual-Gate Single-Electron Transistors

Single-electron transistors that have electrical tunneling barriers are fabricated, and Coulomb oscillation peaks and negative differential transconductance are observed at room temperature (300 K). Operation characteristics and multioscillation peaks are further investigated at low temperature (80 K). The period of Coulomb oscillation is 2.3 V due to an ultrasmall control gate capacitance, and oscillation peaks are shifted through the side gate bias, which is explained by the derived stability plot for dual-gate structures. Even with the side gates electrically floating, the device still operates as a single-electron transistor since the p-n junction barrier plays a role of tunneling barrier. In addition, by changing the bias condition, double dots are formed along the channel and peak splitting is observed.