An Ultra High Resolution Displacement Transducer Using the Coulomb Blockade Electrometer

The present work proposes using the recently developed Coulomb blockade electrometer as a transducer for measuring small displacements. The Coulomb blockade based electrometer is a three terminal device which provides a direct method of transferring a small charge variation on the plate of a capacitor into a change of current passing through the device. Here it is shown that by changing the capacitance at constant voltage, a very simple and sensitive displacement transducer can be realised. The resolution limits of such transducers are evaluated and analysed.