Single-electron devices and their applications

The goal of this paper is to review in brief the basic physics of single-el ectron devices, as well as their current and prospective applications. Thes e devices, based on the controllable transfer of single electrons between s mall conducting, "islands," have already enabled several important scientif ic experiments. Several other applications of analog single-electron device s in unique scientific instrumentation and metrology seem quite feasible. O n the other hand, the prospect of silicon transistors being replaced by sin gle-electron devices in integrated digital circuits faces tough challenges and,remains uncertain. Nevertheless, even if this replacement does not happ en, single electronics will continue to play an important role by shedding light on the fundamental size limitations of new electronic devices. Moreov er, recent research in this field has generated some by-product ideas which may revolutionize random-access-memory and digital-data-storage technologi es.