Smart Electromechanical Pumping of Electrons in a Nanopillars Transistor

TL;DR

This paper investigates a nanopillar transistor with a silicon box that exhibits quantized electron tunneling and acts as a smart quantum pump, revealing the effects of electromechanical coupling on electron dynamics at room temperature.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a smart quantum pump in a nanopillar transistor and analyzes how electromechanical coupling influences single-electron tunneling behavior.

Findings

Quantized currents observed at specific electron numbers (N=7, 13)

Electromechanical coupling of 0.17 enables stable single-electron tunneling

High coupling (0.5) leads to instability, interference, and channel closure.

Abstract

Analysis of room-temperature current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of a silicon box in a nanopillar transistor suggests that a weak electromechanical coupling of 0.17 is responsible for the stable tunnel of single-electron. The dynamics involves a few electrons and the numbers (N) specified are periodical at 3, 6, and 12. Quantized currents are observed at N = 7 and 13, indicating that the box is a man-made atom. At a large value of 0.5, instability however dominates the I-V by showing interference, channel closure and the change of tunnel direction. Overall, the interplay of even and odd electrons between different channels also shows that the box operates itself like a smart quantum pump.