Coulomb blockade effects in a highly doped silicon quantum wire fabricatedon novel molecular beam epitaxy grown material

Coulomb blockade effects are studied in highly doped molecular-beam-epitaxy grown silicon quantum wires. The nanometer structure of the single electro n tunneling transistor (ETT) is fabricated by electron beam lithography (EB L), anisotropic reactive ion etching (RIE) and low temperature oxide deposi tion. An extended Coulomb blockade is observed even at T = 130 K in the I-V characteristics, while outside the blockade region a clear Coulomb stairca se is visible. The zero-conductivity range is significantly affected by the applied gate voltage. In addition, oscillations of the Coulomb blockade wi th gate potential are observed. The nature of tunnel barriers present in th is wire is discussed.