Tunneling spectroscopy of a germanium quantum dot in single-hole transistors with self-aligned electrodes

We have fabricated a Ge quantum dot (QD) (∼10 nm) single-hole transistor with self-aligned electrodes using thermal oxidation of a SiGe-on-insulator nanowire based on FinFET technology. This fabricated device exhibits clear Coulomb blockade oscillations with large peak-to-valley ratio (PVCR) of 250-750 and negative differential conductance with PVCR of ∼12 at room temperature. This reveals that the gate-induced tunneling barrier lowering is effectively suppressed due to the self-aligned electrode structure. The magnitude of tunneling current spectra also reveals the coupling strengths between the energy levels of the Ge QD and electrodes.