Strong dependence of tunneling transport properties on overdriving voltage for room-temperature-operating single electron/hole transistors formed with ultranarrow [100] silicon nanowire channel

The single electron/ hole transistor (SET/SHT) consisting of a Si nanowire channel with a self-assembled Si quantum dot showed a strong dependence of Coulomb blockade (CB) characteristics on the overdriving voltage (Vover). The SET/SHT requiring a low Vover due to the moderate dot size compared to the nanowire size showed good device performances, for example, very sharp CB oscillation and long extension of blockade regime. However, the SET/SHT requiring a high Vover due to the unduly shrunken of size, which leads to an increase in the valence band offset between the dot and the nanowire, showed the drastic degradation of the device performances. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.