title: Fabricating a silicon nanowire by using the proximity effect in electron beam lithography for investigation of the Coulomb blockade effect.
abstract: We present an approach to fabricate a silicon nanowire relying on the proximity effect in electron beam lithography with a low acceleration voltage system by designing the exposure patterns with a rhombus sandwiched between two symmetric wedges. The reproducibility is investigated by changing the number of rhombuses. A device with a silicon nanowire is constructed on a highly doped silicon-on-insulator wafer to measure the electronic transport characteristics. Significant nonlinear behavior of current-voltage curves is observed at up to 150 K. The dependence of current on the drain voltage and back-gate voltage shows Coulomb blockade oscillations at 5.4 K, revealing a Coulomb island naturally formed in the nanowire. The mechanism of formation of the Coulomb island is discussed.
authors.affiliation: State Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China. xgzhang@nju.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xiangao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhonghui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Kunji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xinfan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang