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Silicon Metal-oxide-semiconductor Quantum Dots for Single-electron Pumping
Published on: June 3, 2015
Sub-1K Cold-Electron Quantum Well Switching at Room Temperature
Anthony Martinez1, Pushkar K Gothe1, Yi-De Liou1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, United States.
Abstract:
Quantum states can provide means to systematically manipulate the transport of electrons. Here we present electron transport across quasi-bound states of two heterogeneous quantum wells (QWs), where the transport of thermally excited electrons is blocked or enabled depending on the relative positions of the two quasi-bound states, with an abrupt current onset occurring when the two QW states align. The QW switch comprises a source (Cr), QW1 (Cr2O3), QW2 (SnO, x < 2), a tunneling barrier (SiO2), and a drain (Si), where the effective electron mass of QW1 (m*QW1) is selected to be larger than QW2 (m*QW2). The current-voltage (I-V) measurements of the fabricated devices show abrupt current onsets, with the current transition occurring within 0.25 mV, corresponding to an effective electron temperature of 0.8 K at room temperature. Since transistor power consumption is fundamentally tied to effective electron temperature, this sub-1K cold-electron QW switching holds promise for highly energy-efficient computing.
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