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Science 10 September 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5434, pp. 1706 - 1709
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5434.1706
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Reports

A Capacitance Standard Based on Counting Electrons

Mark W. Keller, 1* Ali L. Eichenberger, 1 John M. Martinis, 1 Neil M. Zimmerman 2

A capacitance standard based directly on the definition of capacitance was built. Single-electron tunneling devices were used to place N electrons of charge e onto a cryogenic capacitor C, and the resulting voltage change Delta V was measured. Repeated measurements of C = Ne/Delta V with this method have a relative standard deviation of 0.3 × 10-6. This standard offers a natural basis for capacitance analogous to the Josephson effect for voltage and the quantum Hall effect for resistance.

1 National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
2 National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mark.keller{at}boulder.nist.gov

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