Single-Electron Transistor

What Does Single-Electron Transistor Mean?

A single-electron transistor (SET) is a switching device that consists of two tunnel junctions sharing a common electrode and makes use of this controlled electron tunneling for amplification of current. The technology used in single-electron transistors is based on the theory of quantum tunneling. Considered an important component of nanotechnology, single-electron transistors provide high operating speed and low power consumption.

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Techopedia Explains Single-Electron Transistor

A single-electron transistor is usually made by keeping two tunnel junctions in series. The transistor consists of a source electrode and a source drain, which is joined with the help of a tunneling island that is also capacitively connected to a gate. The electrons can travel to another electrode only through the insulator. There are two categories of single-electron transistors: metallic and semiconducting. The former makes use of a metallic island, and its electrodes using a shadow mask are mostly evaporated onto an insulator. The latter, in contrast, depends on severing the two-dimensional electron gas that forms at the interface of the semiconductors for the junction.

The resistance feature of a single-electron transistor depends on the size of the nanoparticles, capacitance and electron tunneling.

Single-electron transistors have many applications. They can be used as ultrasensitive microwave detectors and can also be used to detect infrared signals at room temperature. They are also efficient charge sensors capable of reading spin or charge qubits. Their high sensitivity feature allows them to be used as electrometers in experiments requiring high levels of specificity.

Single-electron transistors are not suitable, however, for complex circuits owing to the fluctuations present in them. Other limitations include randomness of the background charge and difficulty in maintaining the room temperature.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…