Design and operation of CMOS-compatible electron pumps fabricated with optical lithography

We report CMOS-compatible quantized current sources (electron pumps) fabricated with nanowires (NWs) on 300mm SOI wafers. Unlike other Al, GaAs or Si based metallic or semiconductor pumps, the fabrication does not rely on electron-beam lithography. The structure consists of two gates in series on the nanowire and the only difference with the SOI nanowire process lies in long (40nm) nitride spacers. As a result a single, silicide island gets isolated between the gates and transport is dominated by Coulomb blockade at cryogenic temperatures thanks to the small size and therefore capacitance of this island. Operation and performances comparable to devices fabricated using e-beam lithography is…