Dynamically controlled charge sensing of a few-electron silicon quantum dot

We report charge sensing measurements of a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dot using a single-electron transistor as a charge sensor with dynamic feedback control. Using digitally-controlled feedback, the sensor exhibits sensitive and robust detection of the charge state of the quantum dot, even in the presence of charge drifts and random charge upset events. The sensor enables the occupancy of the quantum dot to be probed down to the single electron level. Copyright 2011 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. [doi:10.1063/1.3654496]