A capacitance standard based on counting electrons
A capacitance standard based directly on the definition of capacitance was built. Single-electron tunneling devices were used to place N electrons of charge e onto a cryogenic capacitor C, and the resulting voltage change DeltaV was measured. Repeated measurements of C = Ne/DeltaV with this method have a relative standard deviation of 0.3 x 10(-6). This standard offers a natural basis for capacitance analogous to the Josephson effect for voltage and the quantum Hall effect for resistance.
Keller
MW
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80303, USA. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
Eichenberger
AL
Martinis
JM
Zimmerman
NM