Scanning tunneling microscope observations of the Coulomb blockade

Z. Y. Rong; L. F. Cohen; E. L. Wolf

doi:10.1016/0375-9601(90)90981-S

Scanning tunneling microscope observations of the Coulomb blockade

Z. Y. Rong, L. F. Cohen, E. L. Wolf

Applied Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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	https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601(90)90981-S
State	Published - May 28 1990

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General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1016/0375-9601(90)90981-S

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@article{c74d5165d92641deac4ae1591a0eb470,

title = "Scanning tunneling microscope observations of the Coulomb blockade",

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 {\AA}) 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.",

author = "Rong, {Z. Y.} and Cohen, {L. F.} and Wolf, {E. L.}",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to Dr. Said Nourbakhsh for assistance with SEM characterization of the W tips and to Dr. Boris Laikhtman for discussions. This work is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, under Grant DE-FG-02-87ER54301.",

year = "1990",

month = may,

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doi = "10.1016/0375-9601(90)90981-S",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Scanning tunneling microscope observations of the Coulomb blockade

AU - Rong, Z. Y.

AU - Cohen, L. F.

AU - Wolf, E. L.

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to Dr. Said Nourbakhsh for assistance with SEM characterization of the W tips and to Dr. Boris Laikhtman for discussions. This work is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, under Grant DE-FG-02-87ER54301.

PY - 1990/5/28

Y1 - 1990/5/28

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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DO - 10.1016/0375-9601(90)90981-S

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JO - Physics Letters A

JF - Physics Letters A

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Scanning tunneling microscope observations of the Coulomb blockade

Abstract

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