title: Energy-filtered cold electron transport at room temperature.
abstract: Fermi-Dirac electron thermal excitation is an intrinsic phenomenon that limits functionality of various electron systems. Efforts to manipulate electron thermal excitation have been successful when the entire system is cooled to cryogenic temperatures, typically <1 K. Here we show that electron thermal excitation can be effectively suppressed at room temperature, and energy-suppressed electrons, whose energy distribution corresponds to an effective electron temperature of ~45 K, can be transported throughout device components without external cooling. This is accomplished using a discrete level of a quantum well, which filters out thermally excited electrons and permits only energy-suppressed electrons to participate in electron transport. The quantum well (~2 nm of Cr2O3) is formed between source (Cr) and tunnelling barrier (SiO2) in a double-barrier-tunnelling-junction structure having a quantum dot as the central island. Cold electron transport is detected from extremely narrow differential conductance peaks in electron tunnelling through CdSe quantum dots, with full widths at half maximum of only ~15 mV at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA [2] Nanotechnology Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bhadrachalam
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA [2] Nanotechnology Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
authors.forename: Ramkumar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA [2] Nanotechnology Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
authors.forename: Vishva
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA [2] Nanotechnology Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
authors.forename: Liang-Chieh
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA.
authors.forename: Weichao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA.
authors.forename: Jiyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA.
authors.forename: Kyeongjae
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA [2] Nanotechnology Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
authors.forename: Seong Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Koh