Current-voltage characteristics of a quantum dot in double-barrier configuration, as formed in the nanoscale channel of silicon transistors, were analyzed both experimentally and theoretically. Single electron transistors (SET) made in a SOI-FET configuration using silicon quantum dot as well as phosphorus donor quantum dots were experimentally investigated. These devices exhibited a quantum Coulomb blockade phenomenon along with a detectable effect of variable tunnel barriers. To replicate the experimental results, we developed a generalized formalism for the tunnel-barrier dependent quantum Coulomb blockade by modifying the rate-equation approach. We qualitatively replicate the experimental results with numerical calculation using this formalism for two and three energy levels participated in the tunneling transport. The new formalism supports the features of most of the small-scaled SET devices.
Keywords: Coulomb blockade; donor atom transistor; quantum dot; single electron transistor; variable tunnel barrier.