Can single electron effects be directly observed in Si quantum dots array at room temperature?

Author

Yu, I.W. ; Chen, K.J. ; Wu, L.C. ; Dai, M. ; Li, W. ; Huang, X.F.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Nanjing Univ., China

Volume

1

fYear

2004

fDate

18-21 Oct. 2004

Firstpage

654

Abstract

We report a direct observation of Coulomb blockade and quantum confinement effects in the room-temperature current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Si quantum dots (Si-QDs) array (with a mean diameter of 6 nm), which is embedded in the SiO₂/Si-QDs array/SiO₂/n⁺-Si (100) structure and elaborated in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system by layer-by-layer technique and in situ plasma oxidation. The I-V curve exhibits a "sharp-edged bulge-like" peak structure, which differs remarkably from the peaks and the staircases reported for the case of single QD. Moreover, quantum conductance phenomenon in the I-V characteristics has been found at the onsets of the peaks in the I-V characteristics.

Keywords

Coulomb blockade; oxidation; plasma CVD; semiconductor quantum dots; silicon; tunnelling; 6 nm; Coulomb blockade effect; Si quantum dots array; SiO₂; SiO₂/n⁺-Si 100 structure; current-voltage characteristics; in situ plasma oxidation; layer-by-layer technique; plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system; quantum conductance phenomenon; quantum confinement effect; room temperature; single electron charging tunneling; single electron effects; Atomic force microscopy; Electrons; Oxidation; Plasma chemistry; Plasma confinement; Plasma temperature; Potential well; Quantum dots; Tunneling; US Department of Transportation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State and Integrated Circuits Technology, 2004. Proceedings. 7th International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8511-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSICT.2004.1435090

Filename

1435090