636 research outputs found
One-by-one trap activation in silicon nanowire transistors
Flicker or 1/f noise in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors
(MOSFETs) has been identified as the main source of noise at low frequency. It
often originates from an ensemble of a huge number of charges trapping and
detrapping. However, a deviation from the well-known model of 1/f noise is
observed for nanoscale MOSFETs and a new model is required. Here, we report the
observation of one-by-one trap activation controlled by the gate voltage in a
nanowire MOSFET and we propose a new low-frequency-noise theory for nanoscale
FETs. We demonstrate that the Coulomb repulsion between electronically charged
trap sites avoids the activation of several traps simultaneously. This effect
induces a noise reduction by more than one order of magnitude. It decreases
when increasing the electron density in the channel due to the electrical
screening of traps. These findings are technologically useful for any FETs with
a short and narrow channel.Comment: One file with paper and supplementary informatio
Phonon Universal Transmission Fluctuations and Localization in Semiconductor Superlattices with a Controlled Degree of Order
We study both analytically and numerically phonon transmission fluctuations
and localization in partially ordered superlattices with correlations among
neighboring layers. In order to generate a sequence of layers with a varying
degree of order we employ a model proposed by Hendricks and Teller as well as
partially ordered versions of deterministic aperiodic superlattices. By
changing a parameter measuring the correlation among adjacent layers, the
Hendricks- Teller superlattice exhibits a transition from periodic ordering,
with alterna- ting layers, to the phase separated opposite limit; including
many intermediate arrangements and the completely random case. In the partially
ordered versions of deterministic superlattices, there is short-range order
(among any conse- cutive layers) and long range disorder, as in the N-state
Markov chains. The average and fluctuations in the transmission, the
backscattering rate, and the localization length in these multilayered systems
are calculated based on the superlattice structure factors we derive
analytically. The standard deviation of the transmission versus the average
transmission lies on a {\it universal\/} curve irrespective of the specific
type of disorder of the SL. We illustrate these general results by applying
them to several GaAs-AlAs superlattices for the proposed experimental
observation of phonon universal transmission fluctuations.Comment: 16-pages, Revte
Anomalous thermal conductivity and local temperature distribution on harmonic Fibonacci chains
The harmonic Fibonacci chain, which is one of a quasiperiodic chain
constructed with a recursion relation, has a singular continuous
frequency-spectrum and critical eigenstates. The validity of the Fourier law is
examined for the harmonic Fibonacci chain with stochastic heat baths at both
ends by investigating the system size N dependence of the heat current J and
the local temperature distribution. It is shown that J asymptotically behaves
as (ln N)^{-1} and the local temperature strongly oscillates along the chain.
These results indicate that the Fourier law does not hold on the harmonic
Fibonacci chain. Furthermore the local temperature exhibits two different
distribution according to the generation of the Fibonacci chain, i.e., the
local temperature distribution does not have a definite form in the
thermodynamic limit. The relations between N-dependence of J and the
frequency-spectrum, and between the local temperature and critical eigenstates
are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Phys.: Cond. Ma
Quantum Phonon Optics: Coherent and Squeezed Atomic Displacements
In this paper we investigate coherent and squeezed quantum states of phonons.
The latter allow the possibility of modulating the quantum fluctuations of
atomic displacements below the zero-point quantum noise level of coherent
states. The expectation values and quantum fluctuations of both the atomic
displacement and the lattice amplitude operators are calculated in these
states---in some cases analytically. We also study the possibility of squeezing
quantum noise in the atomic displacement using a polariton-based approach.Comment: 6 pages, RevTe
A Silicon Nanowire Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect-Transistor with elementary charge sensitivity
We investigate the mechanisms responsible for the low-frequency noise in
liquid-gated nano-scale silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW-FETs)
and show that the charge-noise level is lower than elementary charge. Our
measurements also show that ionic strength of the surrounding electrolyte has a
minimal effect on the overall noise. Dielectric polarization noise seems to be
at the origin of the 1/f noise in our devices. The estimated spectral density
of charge noise Sq = 1.6x10-2 e/sqr(Hz) at 10 Hz opens the door to metrological
studies with these SiNW-FETs for the electrical detection of a small number of
molecules.Comment: One file including paper (with 3 figures) and supplementary
information (with 5 figures). Submitte
Water Electrolysis and Energy Harvesting with 0D Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect Transistors
The relationship of the gas bubble size to the size distribution critically
influences the effectiveness of electrochemical processes. Several optical and
acoustical techniques have been used to characterize the size and emission
frequency of bubbles. Here, we used zero-dimensional (0D) ion-sensitive
field-effect transistors (ISFETs) buried under a microbath to detect the
emission of individual bubbles electrically and to generate statistics on the
bubble emission time. The bubble size was evaluated via a simple model of the
electrolytic current. We suggest that energy lost during water electrolysis
could be used to generate electric pulses at an optimal efficiency with an
array of 0D ISFETs.Comment: One pdf file including paper and supporting informations. Nano
Letters, published on line (2013
Impact of van der Waals forces on the classical shuttle instability
The effects of including the van der Waals interaction in the modelling of
the single electron shuttle have been investigated numerically. It is
demonstrated that the relative strength of the vdW-forces and the elastic
restoring forces determine the characteristics of the shuttle instability. In
the case of weak elastic forces and low voltages the grain is trapped close to
one lead, and this trapping can be overcome by Coulomb forces by applying a
bias voltage larger than a threshold voltage . This allows for
grain motion leading to an increase in current by several orders of magnitude
above the transition voltage . Associated with the process is also
hysteresis in the I-V characteristics.Comment: minor revisions, updated references, Article published in Phys. Rev.
B 69, 035309 (2004
Phonon dispersion and electron-phonon interaction in peanut-shaped fullerene polymers
We reveal that the periodic radius modulation peculiar to one-dimensional
(1D) peanut-shaped fullerene (C) polymers exerts a strong influence on
their low-frequency phonon states and their interactions with mobile electrons.
The continuum approximation is employed to show the zone-folding of phonon
dispersion curves, which leads to fast relaxation of a radial breathing mode in
the 1D C polymers. We also formulate the electron-phonon interaction
along the deformation potential theory, demonstrating that only a few set of
electron and phonon modes yields a significant magnitude of the interaction
relevant to the low-temperature physics of the system. The latter finding gives
an important implication for the possible Peierls instability of the C
polymers suggested in the earlier experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Design and fabrication of densely integrated silicon quantum dots using a VLSI compatible hydrogen silsesquioxane electron beam lithography process
Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) is a high resolution negative-tone electron beam resist allowing for direct transfer of nanostructures into silicon-on-insulator. Using this resist for electron beam lithography, we fabricate high density lithographically defined Silicon double quantum dot (QD) transistors. We show that our approach is compatible with very large scale integration, allowing for parallel fabrication of up to 144 scalable devices. HSQ process optimisation allowed for realisation of reproducible QD dimensions of 50 nm and tunnel junction down to 25 nm. We observed that 80% of the fabricated devices had dimensional variations of less than 5 nm. These are the smallest high density double QD transistors achieved to date. Single electron simulations combined with preliminary electrical characterisations justify the reliability of our device and process
On the low-temperature lattice thermal transport in nanowires
We propose a theory of low temperature thermal transport in nano-wires in the
regime where a competition between phonon and flexural modes governs the
relaxation processes. Starting with the standard kinetic equations for two
different types of quasiparticles we derive a general expression for the
coefficient of thermal conductivity. The underlying physics of thermal
conductance is completely determined by the corresponding relaxation times,
which can be calculated directly for any dispersion of quasiparticles depending
on the size of a system. We show that if the considered relaxation mechanism is
dominant, then at small wire diameters the temperature dependence of thermal
conductivity experiences a crossover from to -dependence.
Quantitative analysis shows reasonable agreement with resent experimental
results.Comment: 12 pages, 3 eps figure
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