Random telegraph signals and 1/f noise in a silicon quantum dot

We investigated random telegraph signals and 1/f noise in a submicron metal -oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor at low temperatures in the Cou lomb-blockade regime. The rich noise characteristics were studied as a func tion of gate voltage, drain current, and temperature, both in and beyond th e Ohmic regime. The results can be understood within a simple model assumin g a uniform potential fluctuation of constant magnitude at the location of the dot. Clear signatures of electron heating are found from the noise at h igher currents. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)0621 5-5].