Measuring the Temperature of a Mesoscopic Quantum Electron System by means of Single Electron Statistics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to measure the temperature of a mesoscopic two-dimensional electron gas in a MOSFET quantum dot using single-electron capture and emission statistics, revealing temperature dependence down to 800 mK.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to determine the temperature of a mesoscopic electron system via defect charge fluctuations, extending previous understanding of temperature dependence in Si n-MOSFETs.

Findings

Capture and emission processes are temperature dependent down to 800 mK.

Charge fluctuation analysis can accurately determine the electron system temperature.

Finite quantum grand canonical ensemble model applies to the observed phenomena.

Abstract

We measure the temperature of a mesoscopic system consisting of an ultra-dilute two dimensional electron gas at the $Si/SiO_2$ interface in a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) quantum dot by means of the capture and emission of an electron in a point defect close to the interface. Contrarily to previous reports, we show that the capture and emission by point defects in Si n-MOSFETs can be temperature dependent down to 800 mK. As the finite quantum grand canonical ensemble model applies, the time domain charge fluctuation in the defect is used to determine the temperature of the few electron gas in the channel.