Short-channel effect and single-electron transport in individual indium oxide nanowires

We have investigated the electric transport properties of individual In₂O₃ nanowire devices. We have found that the gate modulation characteristics depend strongly on the channel length. If the channel length is greater than 450 nm, the gate modulation curve exhibited field-effect transistor behavior with dominant n-channel current at room temperature. With the decrease of the channel length, the leakage current is increased due to the short-channel effect. For such short-channel devices, the gate modulation curve exhibited quasi-periodic current oscillations at low temperature, which are attributed to the Coulomb blockade of single-electron tunneling. Some devices showed two-fold periodicity in the Coulomb diamonds which may arise from the spin degeneracy of the single-particle energy levels.