Hybrid Metal-Semiconductor Electron Pump for Quantum Metrology
Electron pumps capable of delivering a current higher than 100 pA with sufficient accuracy are likely to become the direct mise en pratique of the possible new quantum definition of the am-pere. Furthermore, they are essential for closing the quantum metrological triangle experiment which tests for possible corrections to the quantum relations linking e and h, the electron charge and the Planck constant, to voltage, resistance and current. We present here single-island hybrid metal/semiconductor transistor pumps which combine the simplicity and efficiency of Coulomb blockade in metals with the unsurpassed performances of silicon switches. Robust and simple pumping at 650 MHz and 0.5 K is demonstrated. The pumped current obtained over a voltage bias range of 1.4 mV corresponds to a relative deviation of 5×10 −4 from the calculated value, well within the 1.5×10 −3 uncertainty of the measurement setup. Multi-charge pumping can be performed. The simple design fully integrated in an industrial CMOS process makes it an ideal candidate for national measurement institutes to realize and share a future quantum ampere.