Voltage-Induced Nonlinear Characteristics of Arrays of Metallic Quantum Dots

We show by computations that even low voltages can significantly modify the electronic states of a small compressed array of metallic quantum dots. This is because the voltage counteracts the effects of inherent disorder on the wave function. The low-lying excitations can be thermally probed. At lower voltages the array breaks into islands that are superexchange coupled. At higher voltages the response is ohmic, then it cuts out due to formation of a junction layer.