Periodic conductance oscillations in a Si-MOSFET point contact

✍ Scribed by C. de Graaf; J. Caro; S. Radelaar; K. Heyers

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 247 KB
• Volume: 175
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-4526
• DOI: 10.1016/0921-4526(91)90720-y

✦ Synopsis

We present data on the low temperature conductance of a new dual gate silicon device, a point-contact in a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor. Just above pinch-off, the conductance oscillates periodically as a function of gate voltage. The parameters obtained from the conductance gate voltage traces correspond well with theoretical predictions based on the Coulomb blockade of tunneling. The dependence of the oscillation period on the width of the point contact also follows the expected behaviour. A comparison between the I-V characteristics and numerical simulations shows a discrepancy, but we give two explanations for the absence of the Coulomb staircase in the experimental curves.