Manipulation and detection of single electrons for future information processing

The ultimate goal of future information processing might be the realization of a circuit in which one bit is represented by a single electron. Such a challenging circuit would comprise elemental devices whose tasks are to drag, transfer, and detect single electrons. In achieving these tasks, the Coulomb blockade, which occurs in tiny conducting materials, plays an important role. This paper describes the current status of research on such single-charge-control devices from the viewpoints of circuit applications. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.