Counting electrons one by one-overview of a joint European research project

The European COUNT project exploits two complementary single electron tunneling devices for use in electrical current metrology: a single electron pump as a current source and a single electron counter as a current meter. An electron pump has been developed with on-chip resistors in order to suppres...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement 2003-04, Vol.52 (2), p.584-589
Main Authors: van den Brom, H.E., Kerkhof, O., Lotkhov, S.V., Bogoslovsky, Sergey.A., Willenberg, G.-D., Scherer, H., Zorin, A.B., Pedersen, S., Kristoffersson, C., Aassime, A., Delsing, P., Taslakov, M.A., Ivanov, Z., Nilsson, H., Giblin, S., Kleinschmidt, P., Hof, C., Eichenberger, A.L., Overney, F., Jeanneret, B., Geneves, G., Feltin, N., Devoille, L., Gay, F., Piquemal, F.P.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capacitance
Capacitors
Coaxial components
Counting
Counting circuits
Cryogenics
Devices
Electrons
Meters
Metrology
Pumps
Quantum capacitance
Resistors
Single electrons
Single-electron transistors
Tunable circuits and devices
Tunneling
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Summary:The European COUNT project exploits two complementary single electron tunneling devices for use in electrical current metrology: a single electron pump as a current source and a single electron counter as a current meter. An electron pump has been developed with on-chip resistors in order to suppress cotunneling. The intended accuracy is 1 ppm for a current of a few picoamperes. Apart from being a quantum current standard, the electron pump could also be the basis of a capacitance standard. A coaxial tunable cryogenic capacitor of 1 picofarad has been developed for this purpose. A passive electron counter based on a single electron transistor embedded in a resonant tank circuit has been further investigated and developed in order to reach both high sensitivity and high counting speed. The intended accuracy is 10 ppm for a current of a few picoamperes.
ISSN:0018-9456
1557-9662
DOI:10.1109/TIM.2003.810736