Electron Counting Capacitance Standard with an improved five-junction R-pump

TL;DR

This paper reports significant advancements in electron counting using a five-junction R-pump, achieving high precision in single-electron transfer and capacitance measurement to support the quantum metrological triangle.

Contribution

Introduction of an improved five-junction R-pump with reduced charge transfer errors for precise electron counting and capacitance standard realization.

Findings

Charge transfer error of five electrons in 10^7

Successful single-electron charging of a cryogenic capacitor

Charge quantum measurement with less than two parts in 10^6 uncertainty

Abstract

The Electron Counting Capacitance Standard currently pursued at PTB aims to close the Quantum Metrological Triangle with a final precision of a few parts in 10^7. This paper reports the considerable progress recently achieved with a new generation of single-electron tunnelling devices. A five-junction R-pump was operated with a relative charge transfer error of five electrons in 10^7, and was used to successfully perform single-electron charging of a cryogenic capacitor. The preliminary result for the single-electron charge quantum has an uncertainty of less than two parts in 10^6 and is consistent with the value of the elementary charge.