What is Single Electron

Transistor? Single Electron

Transistors working and
applications
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What is Moores law?

Moores law states that the number of transistors on a chip gets doubled for every 18 months of
time duration.
Metal-Oxide Semi conductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is the basic building element of
the digital world. The Bi Junction Transistor (BJT) is the basic building block of the analog
world. The switching OFF and ON of the transistor is the working principle of these devices.
Different transistors used different mechanisms of switching.
With the drastic reduction in the channel length, there are several effects that affect the working
of conventional MOSFETs like horizontal and vertical forces, stray capacitances and static
power dissipation. Hence, the technology needs a replacement in the near future.
The addition of electrons to the transistor turns it ON and the removal of electrons turns the
transistor OFF. The ON state of transistor is stored as digital 1 and the OFF state of the transistor
is stored as digital 0. The technology is saturating with the available switching mechanisms of
transistors. All these types of transistors belong to the classical family of physics.

What is Single Electron Transistor?

Single Electron Transistor (SET) is the transistor that uses controlled electron tunneling for its
switching action.
In SETs, the electrons are limited to a small volume of the transistor and communicate with the
electrical leads by tunneling of the electrons. The schematic diagram of a Single Electron
Transistor is shown below.

Working of Single Electron Transistor:

A SET consists of a semiconductor separated from the metal electrodes by an insulator. The semi
conductor used here is Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and the insulator is Aluminium Gallium
Arsenide (AlGaAs). The insulator AlGaAs is doped with Silicon, as the energy of silicon atoms
is low. This results in a 2 Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG), which helps the flow of electrons
from source to drain. This 2DEG is formed perpendicular to the GaAs/AlGaAs layer of the
transistor and the plane of the electrodes.
A negative voltage on the electrodes repels the electrons under the electrodes and develops a
potential barrier. When the electron crosses this potential barrier, the transistor starts conducting.
This conduction state is represented as digital 1. This theory of Single Electron Transistors is
closely related to the quantum mechanics.
In conventional transistors, the charge increases continuously. But in the SETs, the charge
increases in discrete steps and allows the current to flow between the source and the drain,
resulting in the conduction of the transistor.
The concept of quantization took its initiation in the researches relating to tunnel junctions in
1960s. The first SET was manufactured by Scott and Thomas in the year 1989. Researchers are
still researching the complete operation of a Single Electron Transistor.
Applications of Single Electron Transistor:
Applications of the SET are simply replacing all the conventional BJTs and MOSFETs in the
entire digital electronic world. The application of these transistors can change the face of the
digital electronics.
SETs are more optimized in area, switching speed, operation and performance when compared to
that of the conventional MOSFETs, which do not work beyond 22nm of channel length.