Hysteresis in the quantized current characteristics of single-electron-transport device

We discovered a hysteresis feature in the quantized current characteristics of single-electron-transport device driven by surface acoustic wave. At gate voltages beyond the conductance pinch-off, the curves of the quantized current versus the gate voltage increasing do not coincide with that of the decreasing. At the fixed gate voltage, the current for the gate voltage decreasing is larger than that of the gate voltage increasing. The change of surface state distribution in the etching sidewalls is considered as the physical origin of the hysteresis characteristics. In addition, we estimated the density of surface states changes about 1.1×1013 m−21.1×1013 m−2 at the same gate voltage with twice sweeping in opposite direction.