Strong Tunneling and Coulomb Blockade in a Single-Electron Transistor
  We have developed a detailed experimental study of a single-electron transistor in a strong tunneling regime. Although weakened by strong charge fluctuations, Coulomb effects were found to persist in all samples including one with the effective conductance 8 times higher than the quantum value (6.45 k$\Omega$)$^{-1}$. A good agreement between our experimental data and theoretical results for the strong tunneling limit is found. A reliable operation of transistors with conductances 3-4 times larger than the quantum value is demonstrated. 
D. Chouvaev, L.S. Kuzmin, D.S. Golubev and A.D. Zaikin