Tunnel Junction Engineering for Optimized Metallic Single-Electron Transistor

The development of metallic single-electron transistor (SET) depends on the downscaling and the electrical properties of its tunnel junctions (TJs). These TJs should insure high-ON current, low-OFF current, and low capacitance. We propose an engineered TJ based on multidielectric stacking. A number of high-k and low-k materials were considered to optimize the TJ's characteristics. The optimized TJ is proven to increase the ION current and the I
_ON
/I
_OFF
ratio in a double-gate SET. Using TiO
₂
plasma oxidation and Al
₂
O
₃
atomic layer deposition, an SET proof of concept, with a double layer TJ, was fabricated and characterized.