Abstract The Coulomb blockade effect is commonly used in solid state electronics for the control of electron flow at the single-particle level. Potentially, it allows the creation of single-electron point sources demanded for prospective electron microscopy instruments and other vacuum electronics devices. Here we realize this potential via creation of a stable point electron source composed of a carbon nanowire electrically coupled to a diamond nanotip by a tunnel junction. Using energy spectroscopy analysis, we characterize the electrons liberated from the nanometer scale carbon heterostructures in time and energy domains. Our experimental results demonstrate perfect agreement with theory prediction of Coulomb oscillations of the Fermi level in the nanowire and allow to determine the mechanisms of their suppression. Persistence of the oscillations at room temperature, high intensity field emission with currents up to 1 μA, and other characteristics of our emitters are very promising for practical realization of coherent single-electron guns.

中文翻译：

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库仑阻塞控制的碳单电子点源

摘要 库仑阻塞效应常用于固态电子学中，用于在单粒子水平上控制电子流。潜在地，它允许创建预期电子显微镜仪器和其他真空电子设备所需的单电子点源。在这里，我们通过创建稳定的点电子源来实现这一潜力，该电子源由碳纳米线通过隧道结电耦合到金刚石纳米尖端。使用能谱分析，我们在时间和能量域中表征从纳米级碳异质结构释放的电子。我们的实验结果证明与纳米线中费米能级库仑振荡的理论预测完全一致，并允许确定其抑制机制。