We have carried out a coordinated experimental and theoretical study of
single-electron traps based on submicron aluminum islands and aluminum oxide
tunnel junctions. The results of geometrical modeling using a modified version
of MIT's FastCap were used as input data for the general-purpose
single-electron circuit simulator MOSES. The analysis indicates reasonable
quantitative agreement between theory and experiment for those trap
characteristics which are not affected by random offset charges. The observed
differences between theory and experiment (ranging from a few to fifty percent)
can be readily explained by the uncertainty in the exact geometry of the
experimental nanostructures.Comment: 17 pages, 21 figures, RevTex, eps