Random telegraph signals and 1/f noise in a silicon quantum dot

We investigated random telegraph signals and 1/f noise in a submicron metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor at low temperatures in the Coulomb-blockade regime. The rich noise characteristics were studied as a function of gate voltage, drain current, and temperature, both in and beyond the Ohmic regime. The results can be understood within a simple model assuming a uniform potential fluctuation of constant magnitude at the location of the dot. Clear signatures of electron heating are found from the noise at higher currents. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)06215-5].