Nanotechnology

Dr. Kazi Hanium Maria

Course teacher
 COULOMB BLOCKADE EFFECT
➢ It is an effect of the charge quantization and a consequence of sequential (non-
coherent) tunneling through a small system.

➢ The resistance to electron transport caused by electrostatic coulomb forces in certain

electronic structures, including quantum dots and single electron transistors is called
coulomb Blockade.

➢ The prohibition or suppression of tunneling is

called the Coulomb Blockade. In simple words,
the suppression of electron flow is called
coulomb blockade.
Explanation: Coulomb forces are electrostatic. If we have two or more charges near one
another, they exert coulomb forces upon each other. In the case of the same charge, the
force is repulsive. In the case of a quantum dot, the charges are all negative electrons. The
Coulomb force will be created by bringing them forcefully together. However, the isolated
droplet of electrons does not willingly accept another but repels it. This is Coulomb blockade
and it helps prevent constant tunneling to and from a quantum dot.
The Coulomb blockade's effect can be measured. A quantum dot has a capacitance,
'Cdot', a measure of how much electric charge it can store. Cdot = G ɛ d

Where, ɛ ⇒ permittivity of the material surrounding the dot

d ⇒ diameter of the dot

G ⇒ geometrical term [ If the quantum dot is disk, G = 4,

if it is spherical particle, G= 2π].

Here, the capacitance is not like the one between a pair of parallel plates but an object
isolated in space which can store charge on its own and hence have a Capacitance.

The energy needed to add negatively charged electron to the dot is known as the
𝑒2
charging energy 𝐸𝑐 . 𝐸𝑐 = 2𝐶𝑑𝑜𝑡
, Where e = charge on the electron

Therefore, 𝐸𝑐 is inversely proportional to the dot's capacitance. In that case, a large

capacitor can quite easily accommodate another electron without too much energy
required. However, in the opposite case, with extremely small capacitors [quantum
dots], the charging energy can be substantial [large]. As a result, small capacitors
[quantum dots] are large enough to "block" tunneling electrons.
How much energy is necessary to block the tunneling electrons in the coulomb
blockade?

⇒Coulomb blockade needs more energy than a given electron can "spend" trying
to tunnel in and out.
⇒ A free electron in a solid has a certain amount of energy depending on which
band it is in.
⇒ Due to thermal vibrations of the atoms in the lattice, these free electrons will
get extra energy to go to higher bands. The extra energy is equal to 𝐾𝐵𝑇 [𝑘𝐵 =
Boltzmann constant = 1.38 × 10-23 J/k]. With this extra energy, an excited
electron might be able to tunnel through a small barrier.
⇒ The coulomb blockade can prevent unwanted tunneling when the charging
energy is much higher than the thermal energy of an electron.

Condition for coulomb blockade

The condition of the Coulomb blockade is therefore, 𝐸𝐶 >> 𝐾𝐵𝑇
This criterion can be more easily achievable if smaller the dot becomes.
 Conditions for a Coulomb Blockade
1) The Coulomb energy 𝑒 2 Τ𝐶 needs to exceed the thermal energy 𝑘𝐵𝑇.
Otherwise, an extra electron can get onto the dot with thermal energy
instead of being blocked by the Coulomb energy. A dot needs to be
either small (<10 nm at 300K) or cold (< 1K for a m-sized dot).

2) The residence time 𝑡 = 𝑅𝐶 of an electron on the dot needs to be

so long that the corresponding energy uncertainty 𝐸 = ℎ/ 𝑡 =
ℎ/𝑅𝐶 is less than the Coulomb energy 𝑒 2 Τ𝐶 . That leads to a condition
for the tunnel resistance between the dot and source/drain:𝑅 > ℎΤ𝑒 2 
26 k
 Single Electron transistor
➢ The Single electron transistor is made of an island/quantum dot connected
through two tunneling junctions to a drain and a source electrode. When there is
no bias in any electrode, electrons in the system do not have enough energy to
tunnel through the junctions i.e. the transistor is in off state.

➢ Unlike field effect transistors, single-electron transistors are based on an

quantum phenomenon which is known as “tunnel effect”.

I-V characteristics of Single electron transistor

 Single Electron transistor
➢ Single electron transistor is the most fundamental three-terminal single electron
device which is capable of offering low power consumption and high operating
speed.

➢ A Single electron transistor consists of a small, low capacitance (C), conducting

island (quantum dot) which is coupled to the source and drain leads by two
tunnel junctions and capacitively coupled to one or more gate.

➢ Single electron device is based on an intrinsic quantum phenomenon known as

the “tunnel effect”. This single-electron tunneling technology presents the ability
to control the transfer of individual electrons.
➢ These tunnel effects may be observed when two
metallic electrodes are separated by an insulating
barrier known as a tunnel junction.

➢ These three-terminal switching devices can transfer

electrons from sources to drain one by one.
 Concept of Single Electron tunneling
➢ The charging and discharging of tunnel junction and thermal fluctuations are closely
related to each other.

➢ The transfer of electrons through the barriers between the quantum dots would result in
charging of the neighboring quantum dots. Now this would increase the electrostatic
𝑒2
energy which is given by, 𝐸𝑐 = Where C is the effective capacitance of the island. This
2𝐶
electrostatic energy is also known as Coulomb energy or Coulomb blockade energy.

➢ Coulomb energy must be greater than the thermal fluctuations. Thus the required
𝑒2
condition to observe the single electron phenomenon is as follows: 𝐸𝑐 = ≫ 𝐾𝐵 𝑇, where
2𝐶
𝐾𝐵 is Boltzmann constant and 𝑇 is the temperature in Kelvin. The sequence of entrance
and leaving of an electron from one junction to another is generally known as “Correlated
tunneling electrons”.

I-V characteristics of the SET for

asymmetric junction representing
“Coulomb staircase state”.
 Density of state
The density of states is defined as the number of states per unit energy per unit
volume of real space, which was expressed mathematically as: 𝑔 𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁Τ𝑑𝐸
4𝜋𝐾3 1 1
For bulk material, the total number of states, 𝑁 3𝐷 =2 × 3 × × 𝐿3
2𝜋Τ𝐿 3

4𝜋𝐾3
=2 × 3(2𝜋)3
4𝜋𝐾3
Here, 3 = volume of the sphere of radius 𝐾
2𝜋Τ𝐿 3 = volume occupied by one states
𝐿3 = volume of the real space
The factor 2 has been introduced to allow for double occupancy of each state by the
different carrier spin.
𝑔 𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁ൗ𝑑𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁ൗ𝑑𝐾 𝑑𝐾ൗ𝑑𝐸

𝑑𝑁 𝑑 4𝜋𝐾 3 4𝜋𝐾 2
= 2 =2
𝑑𝐾 𝑑𝐾 3(2𝜋)3 (2𝜋)3

ℏ2 𝐾 2 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 1/2
Now, we know, 𝐸 = 2𝑚∗
⟹𝐾= ℏ2
1/2
𝑑𝐾 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 −1/2
=
𝑑𝐸 ℏ2 2
The density of state in bulk: 𝑔 𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁Τ𝑑𝐸= 𝑑𝑁Τ𝑑𝐾 𝑑𝐾Τ𝑑𝐸

3𝐷 4𝜋𝐾2 2𝑚∗ 1/2 𝐸 −1/2 1 2 2𝑚

∗ 1/2
−1/2 1 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 2𝑚∗ 1/2 −1/2
𝑔 𝐸 = 2 (2𝜋)3 = 𝐾 𝐸 = 𝐸
ℏ2 2 2𝜋 2 ℏ 2 2𝜋2 ℏ2 ℏ2

1 2𝑚∗ 3/2 1/2

= 𝐸
2𝜋2 ℏ2
Thus the density of states within a band and around a minimum where the energy
can be represented as a parabolic function of momentum is continual and
proportional to the square root of the energy
1 1 𝐾2
For quantum well, the total number of states, 𝑁 2𝐷 =2× 𝜋𝐾 2 × × 𝐿2 =
2𝜋Τ𝐿 2 2𝜋
2𝐷 2𝐷
𝑔2𝐷 𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁 ൗ𝑑𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁 ൗ𝑑𝐾 𝑑𝐾ൗ𝑑𝐸

𝑑𝑁2𝐷ൗ 𝐾
𝑑𝐾 =
𝜋

1/2 1/2 1/2

𝐾 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 −1/2 1 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 −1/2 1 𝑚∗ 𝑚∗ 0
𝑔2𝐷 𝐸 = = = = 𝐸
𝜋 ℏ2 2 𝜋 ℏ2 ℏ2 2 𝜋 ℏ2 𝜋ℏ2

This is the density of states for a single subband in a quantum well. If there are
2𝐷 𝑛 𝑚∗
many (n) confined state within the Q well system, 𝑔 𝐸 = σ𝑖=1 2 Θ(𝐸 − 𝐸𝑖 ) 𝜋ℏ
Θ = unit step function
 1 1 4𝐾 2𝐾
For quantum wire, the total number of states, 𝑁 1𝐷 = 2 × 2𝐾 × 2𝜋Τ𝐿 × 𝐿 = =
2𝜋 𝜋
2 accounts for spin degeneracy.

1𝐷 1𝐷
𝑔1𝐷 𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁 ൗ𝑑𝐸 = 𝑑𝑁 ൗ𝑑𝐾 𝑑𝐾ൗ𝑑𝐸

𝑑𝑁1𝐷ൗ 2
𝑑𝐾 =
𝜋

1/2 1/2
2 2𝑚∗ 𝐸 −1/2 1 2𝑚∗
𝑔1𝐷 𝐸 = = 𝐸 −1/2
𝜋 ℏ2 2 𝜋 ℏ2

This is the density of states of a quantum wire. Quantum wires show maxima in the
density of states at around the subband minima. If there are many (n) confined state
within the Q wire system,
𝑛 1/2
2𝑚∗ 1
𝑔1𝐷 𝐸 =෍ Θ(𝐸 − 𝐸𝑖 )
ℏ2 𝜋(𝐸 − 𝐸𝑖 )1/2
𝑖=1
Therefore, comparing the density of states for bulk (3D), quantum wells (2D) and
quantum wires (1D), it can be seen that successive reductions in degrees of
freedom for the electron motion, lead to reductions in the functional form of 𝑔 𝐸 by
the factors of 𝐸1/2 .
 The density of states for reduced dimensionality
systems, rewritten in a standard form

The situation for quantum dots is quite different. As the particles are confined in
all directions, then there are no dispersion curves, and thus the density of states
is just dependent upon the number of confined levels. One single isolated dot
would therefore offer just two (spin-degenerate) states at the energy of each
confined level, and a plot of the density of states versus energy would be a
series of s-functions.
𝑔0𝐷 𝐸 = 2 ෍ 𝛿(𝐸 − 𝐸𝑖 )
𝑖
The density of electron states of a semiconductor as a function of the
dimension. The optical absorption spectrum is roughly proportional to the
density of states.
 Ballistic transport
➢If the length of a conduction path, 𝐿 is reduced to become much less than the
mean free path 𝐿𝑚 , it would be expected that no collisions would take place,
rendering the collision-based model useless.
➢In case of 𝐿 ≪ 𝐿𝑚 , electron transport occurs ballistically at very small length
scales. Here we assume that electrons travel in the wire without scattering,i.e.
the electrons do not collide with anything in the wire that changes their energy
or momentum. This is ballistic transport where the electron behaves like a
projectile traveling through the conductor.
➢ Interactions between electrons and the nuclei usually cause electron
scattering. The probability of an electron collision is enhanced by defects and
temperature (since the vibration of nuclei increases with temperature). Thus,
the scattering rate can be decreased by lowering the temperature and working
with very pure materials. But all materials have some scattering probability. So,
the smaller the conductor, the greater the probability that charge transport will
be ballistic. Thus, ballistic transport is a nanoscale phenomenon and can be
engineered in nanodevices.
➢For ballistic transport the electron has no interaction with the conductor. Thus, the
electron is not necessarily in equilibrium with the conductor, i.e. the electron is not
restricted to the lowest unoccupied energy states within the conductor.
➢But scattering can bump electrons from high energy states to lower energies.
There are two categories of scattering:
Elastic Scattering, where the scattering event may change the momentum of the
electron but its energy remains constant;
Inelastic scattering, where the energy of the electron is not conserved. Equilibrium
may be established by inelastic scattering.

At very small length scales, electron transport occurs ballistically. It

is very important in nanoscopic devices.
Here, consider an electron traveling through a regular lattice of nuclei. If the electron travels
ballistically it has no interaction with the lattice. It travels with constant energy and momentum
and will not necessarily be in equilibrium with the material. If the lattice scatters the electron,
its energy and momentum will change. Scattering assists in the establishment of equilibrium
within the material.
Let, 𝐿 is system length
𝐿𝑚 is mean free path
𝐿𝜑 is the length over which an electron can travel before having an inelastic
collision. It is also called phase-coherence length, where the length over which
an electron wavefunction retains its coherence (i.e., its phase memory). It is
usually on the order of 10 to 100 nm at low temperatures.

Elastic collisions do not interrupt phase coherence but inelastic collisions

destroy phase coherence called dephasing events. Thermal effects play an
important role in phase coherence. At higher temperatures, the lattice vibrates
more as a result collisions occur. Due to thermal energy, at non-zero
temperatures, an electron should be represented as wavepacket, 𝐸~𝐾𝐵 𝑇.
Increase of 𝑇 leads increase of 𝐸, leading to thermal decoherence even in the
absence of particle scattering. Decoherence of any kind is one of the reasons
for systems to exhibit classical behavior and is one of the most problematic
issues facing the development of quantum computers.
Generally, electron transport can be divided into two regimes:
1. 𝐿 ≫ 𝐿𝜑 , 𝐿𝑚 ⇒ classical transport, familiar for macroscopic case
⇒Ohm’s law applies, momentum and phase relaxation occur
frequently as charges move through the system. Because of this, we
cannot solve Schrodinger equation over the whole conductor length, 𝐿.

2. 𝐿 ≪ 𝐿𝑚 , 𝐿𝜑 ⇒ Ballistic transport
⇒ occurs over very small length scales and is coherent.
⇒ During ballistic transport, no momentum or phase
relaxation. Thus, in a ballistic material, the electron wavefunction can be
obtain from Schrodinger’s equation