Single-electron effects in highly doped polysilicon nanowires

Abstract

We investigate silicon-based single-electron transistors in thin layers of highly doped recrystallized amorphous silicon. After rapid thermal annealing polysilicon grains have been found with sizes of about 25 nm acting as electron islands. Applying high-resolution electron-beam lithography we have fabricated nanowires with width down to about 10 nm in the polycrystalline silicon films. Single-electron effects in the non-linear source–drain characteristics up to temperatures of about 25 K have been observed.