Coulomb blockade in quasimetallic silicon-on-insulator nanowires

Using highly doped silicon-on-insulator (SOI) films, we demonstrate metalli c Coulomb blockade in silicon nanowires at temperatures up to almost 100 K. We propose a process that leads to island formation inside the wire due to a combination of structural roughness and segregation effects during therm al oxidation. Hence, no narrowing of the SOI wire is necessary to form tunn eling contacts to the single-electron transistors. (C) 1999 American Instit ute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)03549-4].