Single electron charging effects in high-resistance In₂O_-x-x-x wires

We report on our measurements of the transport properties of 0.75 μm long insulating indium oxide wires and rings. These devices have no apparent tunnel barriers, yet they exhibit two properties at low temperatures which are characteristic of series arrays of small capacitance tunnel junctions: highly non-linear IV characteristics and a zero-bias conductance which is periodic in a voltage applied by means of a lateral gate. Two types of samples can be distinguished, based on the behaviour of the conductance oscillations at low temperatures. For the first type, the structure of the oscillations remains periodic down to our lowest temperatures, similar to the data from the tunnel junction arrays. For the second type, lowering the temperature results in a transition from periodic to quasi-periodic conductance peaks. A phenomelogical model based on the orthodox theory of the Coulomb blockade is able to account for most of our observations. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of these effects suggest that they are due to the influence of single electron charging on transport through the localized electron states in the indium oxide.