Temperature dependence of the locked mode in a single-electron latch

Interaction between single electrons in coupled quantum dots is used to perform binary logic operations in Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA). Clocked control over tunneling is necessary to achieve power gain and minimize power dissipation in QCA. The high temperature limit for clocked operation is set by the ability of the cells to store binary information when the input signal is removed (so-called ‘locked mode’). We present an experimental investigation of the temperature dependence of the locked mode in metal-dot based clocked QCA device. The experimental results are in very good agreement with the orthodox Coulomb blockade theory for thermally activated electron escape mechanism. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.