Non-equilibrium probing of two-level charge fluctuators using the step response of a single electron transistor

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to study two-level fluctuators (TLFs) by measuring the offset charge response of a single electron transistor after a step voltage, revealing non-thermal tunneling behavior and enabling density estimation.

Contribution

The study presents a new experimental approach to probe TLFs using step response measurements, providing insights into their tunneling-driven dynamics and density.

Findings

Offset charge drift follows a logarithmic increase over time.

Logarithmic slope increases linearly with step voltage.

Charge fluctuations are temperature-independent, indicating tunneling involvement.

Abstract

We report a new method to study two level fluctuators (TLFs) by measuring the offset charge induced after applying a sudden step voltage to the gate electrode of a single electron transistor. The offset charge is measured for more than 20 hours for samples made on three different substrates. We find that the offset charge drift follows a logarithmic increase over four orders of magnitude in time and that the logarithmic slope increases linearly with the step voltage. The charge drift is independent of temperature, ruling out thermally activated TLFs and demonstrating that the charge fluctuations involve tunneling. These observations are in agreement with expectations for an ensemble of TLFs driven out of equilibrium. From our model, we extract the density of TLFs assuming either a volume density or a surface density.