Electronic properties of semiconductor quantum dots for Coulomb blockade applications

This paper deals with the electronic properties of Si and Ge nanocrystals (NCs) with a view to studying their potentialities for single electron devices. The 3D Poisson–Schrödinger equations are self-consistently solved for a single NC embedded in SiO2. A 1D spherical approximation is compared to the full 3D approach. For various shapes and sizes of NC the energy levels and the density are calculated as a function of the applied voltage and the number of electrons stored in the NC. The potential properties of such nanostructures for Coulomb blockade operation are deduced.