Collective Coulomb blockade in an array of quantum dots: A Mott-Hubbard approach

We investigate the electron addition spectrum in a class of Hubbard-like models which describe arrays of coupled quantum dots. Interdot tunneling leads to a sequence of two phase transitions separating a region of collective Coulomb blockade from a region where the Coulomb blockade of individual dots is maintained and a region where the Coulomb blockade is destroyed altogether. Observable experimental consequences of our theory are discussed.