Single hole quantum dot transistors in silicon

Novel p-channel quantum-dot transistors were fabricated in silicon-on-insulator. Strong oscillations in the drain current as a function of the gate voltage have been observed at temperatures over 81 K and drain biases over 66 mV. The oscillations are attributed to holes tunneling through the discrete single hole energy levels in the quantum dot. Measurements show that the average energy level spacing is ∼35 meV. Simple modeling indicates that about two thirds of the energy level spacing come from the Coulomb interaction between holes (i.e., hole Coulomb blockade) and one third from the quantum confinement effect. The realization of single hole quantum-dot transistors opens new possibilities for innovative circuits that utilize complementary pairs of quantum-dot transistors.