Focused Ion Beam Fabrication of Sub-20nm Inter-Electrode Gaps for Room Temperature Operating Single Electron Transistor

Abstract

Fabricating nano electrodes with a few nanometer inter-electrode gap laterally is a challenge with existing technologies. In this work, we present a simple method to fabricate electrode pairs with a sub-20 nm inter-electrode gaps using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) etching technology. Unlike previously reported methods, no internal or external modification in the Focused Ion Beam system is needed in this technique. An inter-electrode gap of 17 nm in a Cr electrode pair is successfully fabricated by optimizing the thickness of the Cr film. This fabrication technique is further applied to realize the source drain and gate electrodes with a targeted inter-electrode gap of 20 nm, for room temperature operating Single Electron Transistors.

A Modified Nanoelectronic Winner-Take-All Circuit for Room Temperature Operation

“…4 Specifically, competitive nets, like winner-take-all (WTA), provide easiness of operation due to their non-supervised training. 5 Although single-electron devices operating at room temperature have already been built, [6][7][8][9] it is still a challenge to propose, simulate and build more complex single-electron circuits operating properly at 300 K. 10,11 For example, a SET-WTA circuit has already been proposed. [12][13][14] This circuit was simulated for static inputs and was robust against effects such as offset charges.…”