SCALING OF THE COULOMB-BLOCKADE

We describe two experiments to study the influence of fluctuations in the electron charge on the transport properties of a quantum dot. Firs t, we scan a device from single- to double quantum-dot behavior by var ying the conductance of a connecting point contact. Second, we measure the dependence of the charging energy on the conductance of the barri ers. The experiments are compared with traces obtained from a modeling that assumes a scaling behavior of the charging energy. Good agreemen t is obtained.