Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Ga-acceptor nanowires were embedded in crystalline Si using focused-ion beams. The dc current-voltage characteristics of these wires after annealing are highly nonlinear at low temperatures, and a threshold voltage of less than 50 mV is observed independent of Ga+ dosage and implant beam overlap. These features suggest a Coulomb blockade transport mechanism presumably caused by a network of Ga precipitates in the substrate. This granular scenario is further supported by measurements of gated nanowires. Nanowires with metallic conductance at low temperatures could be achieved by reducing the current density of the focused-ion beams.