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Single-electron turnstile |
Electron microscope image |
Single-electron
transfer and detection |
Room-temperature single-electron transfer and detection with silicon nanodevices
Transfer and subsequent detection of single electrons are demonstrated at room temperature using a silicon-on-insulator nanodevice. The turnstile, which is composed of two Si-wire-FETs with a fine gate, enables us to transfer single electrons by opening and closing the two FETs alternately. The transferred individual electrons are stored in a memory node and detected by an electrometer with single-electron resolution. The size reduction and optimized operating conditions allow the room-temperature operation. The present device achieves high-speed transfer and long retention. We demonstrated that the device could serve as a multi-level single-electron memory. (page 30)