Abstract
In materials consisting of small metal grains, coupled by tunnel barriers, at low temperatures the electrical properties are strongly influenced by charging effects resulting from the small capacitance of the grains. Because charge is transferred in discrete units (e for normal metal junctions, 2e or e for superconducting tunnel junctions), the energy change of the system during tunneling can be significant. If the energy of the system would increase, the tunneling is forbidden at zero temperature. This phenomenon is called Coulomb blockade of (electron) tunneling. Typical energy changes are of order EC ≡ e2/2C, so that the temperature must be below EC/k b to observe charging effects. Already in 1968 this effect of small grain capacitance was appreciated as well as observed experimentally (Giaever and Zeller, 1968, 1969; Lambe and Jaklevic, 1969).
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Geerligs, L.J., Mooij, J.E. (1991). Charging Effects and ‘Turnstile’ Clocking of Single Electrons in Small Tunnel Junctions. In: Ferry, D.K., Barker, J.R., Jacoboni, C. (eds) Granular Nanoelectronics. NATO ASI Series, vol 251. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3689-9_25
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