Single charge transport and charge sensing in quantum dots

As we approach the theoretical limit of the transistor size, finding new ways to process digital information is crucial. A computing device that exploits the laws of quantum mechanics can potentially achieve significant speed-up over its classical counterparts in certain problems and applications. Based on the proposal of using the spin orientation of a single electron trapped in a semiconductor quantum dot as a carrier of classical information, we investigate the charge transport in single and double quantum dots defined by the electrostatic gating of a carrier gas in silicon for cryogenic temperatures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the gated quantum dot can act as a single-charge transistor and as a charge sensor. We report experiments and findings on two devices with different architecture, for both electron and hole transport down to the few-charge regime.