Journal Article

CMOS-compatible fabrication of room-temperature single-electron devices

Koh, Seong Jin, Kim, Choong-Un, Subramanian, Ramkumar, Ma, Liang-Chieh, Bhadrachalam, Pradeep, Ray, Vishva

2008

Overview

Devices in which the transport and storage of single electrons are systematically controlled could lead to a new generation of nanoscale devices and sensors 1 , 2 , 3 . The attractive features of these devices include operation at extremely low power, scalability to the sub-nanometre regime and extremely high charge sensitivity 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 . However, the fabrication of single-electron devices requires nanoscale geometrical control, which has limited their fabrication to small numbers of devices at a time 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , significantly restricting their implementation in practical devices. Here we report the parallel fabrication of single-electron devices, which results in multiple, individually addressable, single-electron devices that operate at room temperature. This was made possible using CMOS fabrication technology and implementing self-alignment of the source and drain electrodes, which are vertically separated by thin dielectric films. We demonstrate clear Coulomb staircase/blockade and Coulomb oscillations at room temperature and also at low temperatures. Single-electron devices offer many advantages over traditional devices, but it is a challenge to fabricate them in large numbers. A novel geometry in which the source and drain electrodes are vertically separated by thin dielectric films, and nanoparticles attached to the sidewall of the dielectric films act as Coulomb islands, can now be used for the CMOS-compatible fabrication of single-electron devices that operate at room temperature.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Chemistry and Materials Science / Electrochemistry - instrumentation / Electrodes / Electronics - instrumentation / Electrons / Equipment Design / Etching / Fabrication / Gold - chemistry / Islands / letter / Low temperature / Materials Science / Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / Nanoparticles / Nanostructures / Nanotechnology / Nanotechnology - instrumentation / Nanotechnology - methods / Nanotechnology and Microengineering / Oxides - chemistry / Semiconductors / Sensors / Silicon Compounds - chemistry / Silicon wafers / Temperature / Transistors, Electronic