title: Single-electron dynamics of an atomic silicon quantum dot on the H-Si(100)-(2×1) surface.
abstract: Here we report the direct observation of single electron charging of a single atomic dangling bond (DB) on the H-Si(100)-2×1 surface. The tip of a scanning tunneling microscope is placed adjacent to the DB to serve as a single-electron sensitive charge detector. Three distinct charge states of the dangling bond--positive, neutral, and negative--are discerned. Charge state probabilities are extracted from the data, and analysis of current traces reveals the characteristic single-electron charging dynamics. Filling rates are found to decay exponentially with increasing tip-DB separation, but are not a function of sample bias, while emptying rates show a very weak dependence on tip position, but a strong dependence on sample bias, consistent with the notion of an atomic quantum dot tunnel coupled to the tip on one side and the bulk silicon on the other.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1 and Quantum Silicon, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taucer
authors.affiliation: Quantum Silicon, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Lucian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Livadaru
authors.affiliation: Quantum Silicon, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Piva
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1 and National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Roshan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Achal
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1 and National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Hatem
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Labidi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Jason L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pitters
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1 and Quantum Silicon, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9 and National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2M9.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Wolkow