New single electron transistor

We propose and demonstrate a new single electron transistor with a nanoscale single barrier placed inside the gap of a conventional split-gate FET. At low temperatures, as the gate voltage was scanned, reproducible periodic oscillations of drain conductance were observed before the onset of the first 2e²/h conductance plateau. The shape of the oscillation peak can be well fitted by the derivative of the Fermi-Dirac distribution. It was found experimentally that each conductance oscillation corresponds to the Coulomb blockade of a single electron in the one-dimensional channel. A model that describes the operation of the new single electron transistor is suggested.