(Invited) High-Speed Operation of Si Single-Electron Transistor

Abstract

Single-electron transistors (SETs) are expected as extremely low power devices. One of the critical issues for their application is that the operation speed is thought to be limited to be very slow due to their high tunnel resistance. We investigated the high-frequency limit of Si SET operation. The SETs were fabricated by the use of pattern-dependent oxidation method, and achieved the SETs with low tunnel resistance closed to quantum limit. And then, we employed a special rectifying effect, which occurs due to the asymmetry of Coulomb diamond, when alternating current voltage was applied to the drain terminal. By the use of the effect, rectifying characteristics of Si SETs were evaluated and revealed that there is no cutoff frequency in the rectifying effect set by the capacitance and tunneling resistance. These results indicate that the rectifying effect of AC voltage is usable beyond the THz regime.