The Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistor (RF-SET): A Fast and Ultrasensitive Electrometer

doi:10.1126/science.280.5367.1238

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Physics

Science 22 May 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5367, pp. 1238 - 1242
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5367.1238

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Reports

The Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistor (RF-SET): A Fast and Ultrasensitive Electrometer

R. J. Schoelkopf, ^* P. Wahlgren, A. A. Kozhevnikov, P. Delsing, D. E. Prober

A new type of electrometer is described that uses a single-electron transistor (SET) and that allows large operating speedsand extremely high charge sensitivity. The SET readout was accomplishedby measuring the damping of a 1.7-gigahertz resonant circuit inwhich the device is embedded, and in some ways is the electrostatic"dual" of the well-known radio-frequency superconducting quantuminterference device. The device is more than two orders of magnitudefaster than previous single-electron devices, with a constantgain from dc to greater than 100 megahertz. For a still-unoptimizeddevice, a charge sensitivity of 1.2 × 10⁵ e/ <RAD><RCD>hertz</RCD></RAD> was obtained at a frequency of1.1 megahertz, which is about an order of magnitude better thana typical, 1/f-noise-limited SET, and corresponds to an energysensitivity (in joules per hertz) of about 41 $planck$ .

R. J. Schoelkopf, A. A. Kozhevnikov, D. E. Prober, Departments of Applied Physics and Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8284, USA.
P. Wahlgren and P. Delsing, Department of Microelectronics and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology and Göteborg University, S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden.
^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rob.schoelkopf{at}yale.edu