Hot electron effects in metallic single electron components

Thermalisation of single electron devices is of considerable current interest because of its fundamental and practical consequences. We present experimental evidence of the effect of electrode volume and its shape on thermal equilibration of small metallic islands for single electron tunnelling. Heat transport between the conduction electrons and the lattice in a metal is commonly accepted to obey the ∝Te5-T0/5 law at low electron and lattice temperatures,Te andT0, respectively. We have investigated the power law and found that it obeys the ∝T5 law only for the smallest islands, and in the majority of the cases considered, it rather follows a law ∝Tp, wherep<5. The thermal coupling can be i…

Coulomb blockade thermometer: Tests and instrumentation

Coulomb blockade thermometry (CBT) provides a simple method for absolute thermometry in every day laboratory use at cryogenic temperatures. CBT has been found insensitive to even high magnetic fields. We review the principles and the operation of CBT and the fabrication of the sensors, and present new data on radiation hardness and stability of the sensors. We describe the instrumentation of CBT in detail. We have developed two signal conditioning units for CBT measurements. One is a modified alternating current resistance bridge, a versatile laboratory instrument operating with a PC computer, and the other one is a simple stand-alone instrument for direct temperature reading. Test results …

Coulomb blockade thermometry

One dimensional arrays of normal metal tunnel junctions have been found to exhibit properties which are very suitable for primary and secondary thermometry in a lithographically adjustable temperature range which extends over about two decades. The thermometer is remarkably insensitive to nonuniformities in the actual pattern and to even strong magnetic fields. We also discuss the behaviour of this device at very low temperatures where the hot electron effect due to poor electron phonon coupling ultimately takes over and at very high temperatures where the finite tunnel barrier effects appear. Short arrays, and especially single tunnel junctions show interesting deviations from the universa…

One dimensional arrays and solitary tunnel junctions in the weak coulomb blockade regime: CBT thermometry

In this article we review the use of the tunnel junction arrays for primary thermometry. In addition to our basic experimental and theoretical results we stress the insensitivity of this method to the fluctuating background charges, to nonidealities in the array and to magnetic field. Important new results of this article are the low temperature corrections to the half width and depth of the measured conductance dip beyond the linear approximation. We also point ou that short arrays, single tunnel junctions in particular, show interesting deviations from the universal behaviour of the long arrays.

Arrays of normal metal tunnel junctions in weak Coulomb blockade regime

Universal features of I–V characteristics of one‐dimensional arrays of normal metal tunnel junctions have been tested against inhomogenities in the junction parameters, number of junctions in the array, and magnetic field. We find that the differential conductance versus bias voltage obeys the analytic form to within 1% if the fabrication errors are smaller than 10% in junction areas, and if the array has more than ten junctions. Furthermore, the universal relation is insensitive to magnetic field at least up to 8 T.

Thermometry by Arrays of Tunnel Junctions

We show that arrays of tunnel junctions between normal metal electrodes exhibit features suitable for primary thermometry in an experimentally adjustable temperature range where thermal and charging effects compete. $I\ensuremath{-}V$ and $\frac{\mathrm{dI}}{\mathrm{dV}}$ vs $V$ have been calculated for two junctions including a universal analytic high temperature result. Experimentally the width of the conductance minimum in this regime scales with $T$ and $N$, the number of junctions, and its value (per junction) agrees with the calculated one to within 3% for large $N$. The height of this feature is inversely proportional to $T$.

Primary thermometry with nanoscale tunnel junctions

We have found current-voltage (I-V) and conductance (dI/dV) characteristics of arrays of nanoscale tunnel junctions between normal metal electrodes to exhibit suitable features for primary thermometry. The current through a uniform array depends on the ratio of the thermal energy kBT and the electrostatic charging energy E c of the islands between the junctions and is completely blocked by Coulomb repulsion at T = 0 and at small voltages eV/2 ≤ Ec. In the opposite limit, kBT ≫ Ec, the width of the conductance minimum scales linearly and universally with T and N, the number of tunnel junctions, and qualifies as a primary thermometer. The zero bias drop in the conductance is proportional to T…

Coulomb blockade nanothermometer

Reliable thermometry is normally based on commercial secondary sensors which are factory calibrated. Primary thermometers exist, too, but their use is limited because of intrinsic slowness, complex instrumentation, or inconvenient installation at the desired location. We have found that arrays of nanoscale tunnel junctions exhibit properties which are very suitable for primary and secondary cryogenic thermometry. Temperature range of this Coulomb blockade thermometer (CBT) extends over about two decades for one sensor and the mean temperature is lithographically adjustable. We have studied the performance of the CBT sensors at very low temperatures where the minimum temperature is limited b…

Coulomb blockade-based nanothermometry in strong magnetic fields

We have performed experiments to test for the susceptibility to strong magnetic fields of electron tunneling in normal metal -based nanostructures for Coulomb blockade primary thermometry. We have confirmed that, to within our accuracy of about ±1%, the single electron charging -induced zero bias differential resistance maximum is unaffected by the field up to 23 T at temperatures of 0.4–4.2 K. We discuss the simple theoretical basis of this immunity. We also report on the practical limitation at low temperatures imposed by superconductivity of aluminium in small magnetic fields.

Feasibility of Coulomb blockade thermometry in metrology

Abstract Coulomb blockade thermometer (CBT) is a simple, magnetic-field-independent primary thermometer for everyday use at cryogenic temperatures. Its properties are well understood by now. The absolute accuracy at present is about ±0.5%. Recently, we have started studying the possibility of using CBT in metrological applications. We have especially in mind the future extension of the international temperature scale below 0.65 K, which is the lower end of ITS-90. Experiments with arrays containing more than 100 tunnel junctions in series are in progress in order to decrease the effects of electromagnetic environment and of co-tunnelling even below the present level.

Electron-phonon heat transport in arrays of Al islands with submicrometer-sized tunnel junctions.

We present experimental evidence of the effect of electrode volume and its shape on thermalization of small metallic islands for single electron tunneling. We have investigated the power law and the magnitude of the thermal transport and found that it obeys the common ${T}^{5}$ law for electron-phonon coupling only for the smallest islands studied, and in other cases considered, with cooling fins attached to the islands, the coupling per unit volume is weaker and it rather follows a law $\ensuremath{\propto}{T}^{p}$, where $pl5$. We attribute this to local hot electrons adjacent to the tunnel junctions.

Charging in Solitary, Voltage Biased Tunnel Junctions.