Abstract
The smooth Coulomb blockade (CB) I-V curve is sometimes observed in cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy using a voltage biased tip to scan a metal film. Our experiments always give some evidence of the Coulomb staircase, characteristic of two tunnel capacitors in series (STM tip, small particle, and substrate) accompanying the smooth CB I-V curves. We suggest that a small (100 Å) particle occasionally encountered between tip and surface, providing a capacitance of order 10-18 F unaffected by voltage biased leads, is the origin of both effects.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 281-285 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Physics Letters A |
| Volume | 146 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 28 1990 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
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Rong, Z. Y., Cohen, L. F., & Wolf, E. L. (1990). Scanning tunneling microscope observations of the Coulomb blockade. Physics Letters A, 146(5), 281-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601(90)90981-S