The fabrication of single-electron transistors using dielectrophoretic trapping of individual gold nanoparticles

Abstract

We demonstrate a simple technique for the fabrication of gold nanoparticle single-electron transistors (SET). The technique is based on nanogap fabrication using the nanoparticle break junction technique and dielectrophoretic assembly of thiolated gold nanoparticles into the nanogap. Electron transport measurements at 4.2 K show a clear and periodic Coulomb diamond structure, characteristic of an SET from a single quantum dot. We performed simulations using a commercially available SET Monte Carlo simulator to further verify that the observed transport behavior stems from a single dot and obtained different parameters for the SET.

Dielectrophoresis at the nanoscale

“…Then, either dc [42] or ac [43] DEP was used to place dimmers between prefabricated electrodes. Yao and co-workers reported fabrication of a single electron transistor using dielectrophoretic trapping of individual gold NPs [44]. This work nicely demonstrates the power of the dielectrophoretic trapping.…”

Low temperature electron transport spectroscopy of mechanically templated carbon nanotube single electron transistors

“…Since the first SET was demonstrated about 25 years ago in an aluminum tunnel junction, 5 it has been realized in a variety of systems including lithographically defined dots in GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction, direct etching of Si substrate, metallic grains in nanopore, colloidal nanocrystals, nanowires, and nanotubes. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Lithography defined dots are often larger in size, requiring sub-Kelvin temperature for operation. In addition, complex fabrication processes make it difficult to control the uniformity and reproducibility.…”

A programmable ferroelectric single electron transistor

“…In the simplest construct, the tunnel barriers can be a few nanometer thick insulator films physically situated between the source/drain and the nanodot acts as the Coulomb island. [6][7][8] The disadvantage of physical insulator barrier is that the tunnel resistance is determined by the film thickness and the conduction band barrier height, which cannot be modulated once the device is fabricated. To achieve a programmable operation, one can harness the depletion created by two negatively biased split gates region as an electrically tunable tunnel barrier.…”