Coulomb blockade

Abstract

Coulomb blockade is a universal phenomenon in electron transport in artificially made nanostructures. It can be understood by a simple and closed reasoning given in this article. We concentrate on big normal Coulomb islands omitting superconductivity and discreteness of electron spectrum. We review the basic concepts of Coulomb blockade, consider the work of generic devices—SEB en SET, master equation approach for single electron transfer. We outline quantum effects and co-tunneling, and shortly review the applications of the phenomenon.