Radio-frequency operation of a double-island single-electron transistor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a double-island single-electron transistor operated at radio-frequency can achieve higher charge sensitivity and faster detection of small charge signals compared to conventional single-electron transistors, enhancing solid-state charge detection capabilities.

Contribution

The study introduces a radio-frequency double-island single-electron transistor with improved charge sensitivity and demonstrates single-shot detection of small charge signals, outperforming traditional single-electron transistors.

Findings

Charge sensitivity of 5.6E-6 e/√Hz achieved

Single-shot detection of <=0.1e charges demonstrated

Double-island design offers higher sensitivity than single-island devices

Abstract

We present results on a double-island single-electron transistor (DISET) operated at radio-frequency (rf) for fast and highly sensitive detection of charge motion in the solid state. Using an intuitive definition for the charge sensitivity, we compare a DISET to a conventional single-electron transistor (SET). We find that a DISET can be more sensitive than a SET for identical, minimum device resistances in the Coulomb blockade regime. This is of particular importance for rf operation where ideal impedance matching to 50 Ohm transmission lines is only possible for a limited range of device resistances. We report a charge sensitivity of 5.6E-6 e/sqrt(Hz) for a rf-DISET, together with a demonstration of single-shot detection of small (<=0.1e) charge signals on microsecond timescales.