Charge noise in single-electron transistors and charge qubits may be caused by metallic grains

We report on measurements of low-frequency noise in a single-electron transistor SET from a few hertz up to 10 MHz. Measurements were done for different bias and gate voltages, which allow us to separate noise contributions from different noise sources. We find a 1 / f noise spectrum with two Lorentzians superimposed. The cut-off frequency of one of the Lorentzians varies systematically with the potential of the SET island. Our data is consistent with two single-charge fluctuators situated close to the tunnel barrier. We suggest that these are due to random charging of aluminum grains, each acting as a single-electron box with tunnel coupling to one of the leads and capacitively coupled to the SET island. We are able to fit the data to our model and extract parameters for the fluctuators.