Long-term charge offset and glassy dynamics in SET transistors

Author

Zimmerman, N.M. ; Huber, W.H.

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA

fYear

2000

fDate

14-19 May 2000

Firstpage

14

Lastpage

15

Abstract

We report long-term measurements of the charge offset Q/sub 0/ in SET (single-electron tunneling) transistors, made of Al/AlO/sub x//Al tunnel junctions. In one case, we saw a Q/sub 0/ which was constant (within 0.1 e) over a twelve-day period, except for one excursion of short interval. In most cases, we see a transient (since cooldown) relaxation of the rate of wandering of Q/sub 0/ over one to two weeks, which is very reminiscent of the nonequilibrium heat evolution observed in glasses. We propose that this mechanism drives both the initial high level of noise in SET transistors, as well as the high error rate in SET pumps.

Keywords

Charge measurement; Single electron transistors; Superconductor-insulator-superconductor devices; Thermal noise; Al-AlO-Al; Al/AlO/sub x//Al tunnel junctions; SET pumps; charge offset; glassy dynamics; high error rate; long-term measurements; noise floor; nonequilibrium heat evolution; rate of wandering; single-electron tunneling transistors; transient relaxation; Charge measurement; Current measurement; Electrons; Error analysis; Frequency measurement; Glass; Heat pumps; Performance evaluation; Q measurement; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Precision Electromagnetic Measurements Digest, 2000 Conference on

Conference_Location

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5744-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CPEM.2000.850852

Filename

850852