Using a device resembling a nano-charge-coupled-device and measuring the Coulomb blockade, we show how the Coulomb blockade degrades with increasing barrier conductance. To explain this behavior, we identify a new parameter, the “barrier capacitance.” This parameter can be used to elucidate information about the energy barrier under a gate with a size of a few tens of nanometers.

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We note that the island length is approximately 70nm and changes by about 4nm (or twice that). The gate voltages in Figs. 3 and 4 inset are from the middle LG-C which has very little cross capacitance to the outer edges of the island; this is why the period of the oscillations does not change in Fig. 3 and 4 insets.

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