Study of single silicon quantum dots' band gap and single-electron charging energies by room temperature scanning tunneling microscopy

Nano Lett. 2008 Jun;8(6):1689-94. doi: 10.1021/nl080625b. Epub 2008 May 17.

Abstract

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy in the shell-filling regime was carried out at room temperature to investigate the size dependence of the band gap and single-electron charging energy of single Si quantum dots (QDs). The results are compared with model calculation. A 12-fold multiple staircase structure was observed for a QD of about 4.3 nm diameter, reflecting the degeneracy of the first energy level, as expected from theoretical calculations. The systematic broadening of the tunneling spectroscopy peaks with decreasing dot diameter is attributed to the reduced barrier height for smaller dot sizes and to the splitting of the first energy level.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Electron Transport
  • Electrons
  • Materials Testing
  • Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / methods*
  • Particle Size
  • Quantum Dots*
  • Silicon / chemistry*
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Silicon