  We report the fabrication of multi-island single-electron devices made by
lithographic contacting of self-assembled alkanethiol-coated gold nanocrystals.
The advantages of this method, which bridges the dimensional gap between
lithographic and NC sizes, are (1) that all tunnel junctions are defined by
self-assembly rather than lithography and (2) that the ratio of gate
capacitance to total capacitance is high. The rich electronic behavior of a
double-island device, measured at 4.2 K, is predicted in detail by combining
finite element and Monte Carlo simulations with the standard theory of Coulomb
blockade with very few adjustable parameters.
