Single-Electron Transport through Single Dopants in a Dopant-Rich Environment

We show that single-electron transport through a single dopant can be achieved even in a random background of many dopants without any precise placement of individual dopants. First, we observe potential maps of a phosphorus-doped channel by low-temperature Kelvin probe force microscopy, and demonstrate potential changes due to single-electron trapping in single dopants. We then show that only one or a small number of dopants dominate the initial stage of source-drain current vs gate voltage characteristics in scaled-down, doped-channel, field-effect transistors.