Single charge electronics offer a way for disruptive technology in nanoelectronics. Coulomb blockade is a realistic way for controlling the electric current through a device with the accuracy of one electron. In such devices the current exhibits a step-like increase upon bias which reflects the discrete nature of the fundamental charge. We have assembled a double tunnel junction on an oxide-free silicon substrate that exhibits Coulomb staircase characteristics using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as Coulomb islands. The first tunnel junction is an insulating layer made of a grafted organic monolayer (GOM) developed for this purpose. The GOM also serves for attaching AuNPs covalently. The second tunnel junction is made by the tip of an STM. We show that this device exhibits reproducible Coulomb blockade I–V curves at 40 K in vacuum. We also show that depending on the doping of the silicon substrate, the whole Coulomb staircase can be adjusted. We have developed a simulation approach based on the orthodox theory that was completed by calculating the bias dependent tunnel barriers and by including an accurate calculation of the band bending. This model accounts for the experimental data and the doping dependence of Coulomb oscillations. This study opens new perspectives toward designing new kind of single electron transistors (SET) based on this dependence of the Coulomb staircase with the charge carrier concentration.

中文翻译：

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库仑封锁体制下功能化硅衬底上的金纳米粒子：实验和理论研究。

单电荷电子学为纳米电子学中的破坏性技术提供了一种方法。库仑阻塞是一种用于以一个电子的精度控制通过设备的电流的现实方法。在这样的器件中，电流在偏置时表现出阶梯状的增加，这反映了基本电荷的离散性质。我们使用金纳米颗粒（AuNPs）作为库仑岛，在无氧化物的硅基板上组装了一个双隧道结，该结具有库仑阶梯特性。第一隧道结是为此目的而开发的由接枝有机单层（GOM）制成的绝缘层。GOM还用于共价连接AuNP。第二个隧道结由STM的尖端制成。我们证明该设备展现出可重现的库仑封锁I –V在真空中于40 K时弯曲。我们还表明，取决于硅基板的掺杂，整个库仑阶梯都可以调整。我们已经基于正统理论开发了一种模拟方法，该方法通过计算与偏压有关的隧道势垒并包括对带弯曲的精确计算来完成。该模型考虑了实验数据和库仑振荡的掺杂依赖性。这项研究基于库仑阶梯与电荷载流子浓度之间的相关性，为设计新型单电子晶体管（SET）开辟了新的视角。