The generation mechanisms of these physical phenomena of Coulomb blockade, Coulomb staircase, single electron tunneling were described with single electron transistor(SET) as the research object.

It is found that the electrons may be transferred into delocalized states with high energy and transited to surface states through hot electron tunneling under high electron concentration.

When scientists apply a voltage to the finger, electrons can hop between it and the surface through a process called quantum tunneling.