Behavior of single charge devices included in different electrical circuits

The electrical properties of circuits of small tunnel junctions at low temperature, where charging effects (SET) become prominent, strongly depend on their electromagnetic environment. This thesis presents the experimental investigation of single charge tunneling devices in both the normal and superconducting state embedded in various electrical circuits providing different electromagnetic environments and, hence, leading to diverse characteristics. The range of applications covered by the examined devices are the ultra-sensitive charge measurement, the single-electron memory cell as well as the possible realization of the Josephson charge-phase qubit. The experiments were performed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig in the years 1997 to 1999 and 2005.