Investigation of switching effects between the drains of an electron Y-branch switch

Abstract

By using high-resolution electron beam lithography and wet etching, Y-branched electron waveguides with lengths down to 70 nm have been fabricated on modulation-doped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. Small positive bias applied between the source and the two drain electron reservoirs leads to enhanced switching of electrons into either of the two branches when a lateral external electric field is applied. The switching manifests itself by pronounced sawtooth oscillations in the conductance between source and one branch of an electron Y-branch switch as the gate voltage at the other branch is changed when the corresponding gate voltage is fixed.