  We report about the fabrication and analysis of the properties of Cr/CrO_x/Cr
tunnel junctions and SET transistors, prepared by different variants of
direct-writing multilayer technique. In all cases, the CrO_x tunnel barriers
were formed in air under ambient conditions. From the experiments on single
junctions, values for the effective barrier height and thickness were derived.
For the Cr/CrO_x/Cr SET transistors we achieved minimal junction areas of 17 x
60 nm^2 using a scanning transmission electron microscope for the e-beam
exposure on Si_3N_4 membrane substrate. We discuss the electrical performance
of the transistor samples as well as their noise behavior.

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics