A sensitive charge scanning probe based on silicon single electron transistor**Project supported by the Instrument Developing Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. YZ201152), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11403084), the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (Nos. JUSRP51510, JUDCF12032), and the Graduate Student Innovation Program for Universities of Jiangsu Province (No. CXLX12_0724).

Abstract

Single electron transistors (SETs) are known to be extremely sensitive electrometers owing to their high charge sensitivity. In this work, we report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a silicon-on-insulator-based SET scanning probe. The fabricated SET is located about 10 μm away from the probe tip. The SET with a quantum dot of about 70 nm in diameter exhibits an obvious Coulomb blockade effect measured at 4.1 K. The Coulomb blockade energy is about 18 meV, and the charge sensitivity is in the order of 10−5−10−3 e/Hz1/2. This SET scanning probe can be used to map charge distribution and sense dynamic charge fluctuation in nanodevices or circuits under test, realizing high sensitivity and high spatial resolution charge detection.