Doped silicon single electron transistors with single island characteristics

Uniformly doped single electron transistors nominally consisting of a single island and two silicon tunneling barriers have been fabricated on silicon-on-insulator material. Two operation regimes are found depending upon the gate voltages applied. The structure acts either as a multiple tunnel junction device or as a single electron transistor consisting of a single dot corresponding to the geometrical shape of the device. The multiple tunnel junction behavior is attributed to the formation of additional tunneling barriers, introduced into the structure by the high doping level. We demonstrate that these barriers can be removed by raising the Fermi level via the application of an appropriate gate voltage. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00615-X].