Victor A. Sverdlov | Searcharxiv

arXiv2003

Shot noise in frustrated single-electron arrays

We have carried out numerical simulations of shot noise in 2D arrays of single-electron islands with random background charges. The results show that in contrast with the 1D arrays, at low currents the current noise is strongly colored, and its spectral density levels off at very low frequencies. The Fano factor may be much larger than unity, due to the remnants of single-electron/hole avalanches. However, even very small thermal fluctuations reduce the Fano factor below 1 for almost any bias.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2003

Coulomb gap, Coulomb blockade, and dynamic activation energy in frustrated single-electron arrays

We have used modern supercomputer facilities to carry out extensive numerical simulations of statistical properties of 1D and 2D arrays of single-electron islands with random background charges, in the limit of small island self-capacitance. In particular, the spectrum of single-electron addition energies shows a clear Coulomb gap that, in 2D arrays, obeys the Efros-Shklovskii theory modified for the specific electron-electron interaction law. The Coulomb blockade threshold voltage statistics for 1D arrays is very broad, with r.m.s. width $δV_t$ growing as $ \propto N^{1/2}$ with the array size $N$. On the contrary, in square 2D arrays of large size the distribution around $ \propto N$ becomes relatively narrow $(δV_t/< V_t> \propto 1/N)$, and the dc $I$-$V$ curves are virtually universal. At low voltages, the slope $G_0(T)$ of $I$-$V$ curves obeys the Arrhenius law. The corresponding activation energy $U_0$ grows only slowly with $N$ and is considerably lower than the formally calculated "lowest pass" energy $E_{max}$ of the potential profile, thus indicating the profile "softness".

cond-mat.dis-nn↗