Single-electron memory

Abstract

A single-electron memory cell, in which one bit of information is represented by the excess or shortfall of a precise number of electrons, is described. An experimental memory circuit was fabricated using side-gated constrictions in δ-doped GaAs, and the basic operation was confirmed from 30 mK up to liquid-helium temperature of 4.2 K. This memory can store information for longer than several hours. The intrinsic single-electron memory characteristics in a regime where cotunneling is neglected are investigated, and the overall characteristics are explained by a semiclassical model.