I–V characteristics of two-dimensional nanodot-array single electron transistors

Abstract

We present a two-dimensional nanodot-array single-electron transistor (2DA-SET) analytical current–voltage model on the basis of master equation and the orthodox theory. Electrical characteristics of these multi island single-electron transistors, which composed of several islands up with to 5×5 nanodot array, have been investigated using SIMON simulator to show the temperature dependence of the Coulomb oscillation in 2DA-SET by varying gate voltage in the temperature range from T=5 to 50K. In addition, the effects of self-island capacitance and inter-dot spacing variation on I–V characteristics of the device under study have been inspected. It illustrates that a proportional increase in current value resulting from higher temperature values and different distribution of nanodot capacitance will be suppressed by the capacitance of whole nanodot-array network in arrays with multiple elements. The 2DA-SET device behaves as a single-island SET device regarding high drain voltage. This is probably because the network of islands is electrically enlarged and merges into a single island owing to the high applied voltage. Finally, we compare the advantages of 2DA-SET face to single-island SET.