Spatially resolved observation of Coulomb blockade and negative differential conductance on a Ag cluster on the clean GaAs(110) surface

Abstract

Room temperature Coulomb blockade was realized on a simple metal/semiconductor system consisting of Ag cluster deposited on a clean GaAs(110) surface. In addition, current-image tunneling spectroscopy of the sample revealed oscillations of the differential conductance, along with negative differential conductance (NDC) and giant positive differential conductance. All of these anomalous current-voltage characteristics were found together in a single cluster, and were dependent on the atomic and electronic structure of the cluster. NDC was observed as an intrinsic characteristic of the sample.