Camarota, BenedettaA Single-Electron Transistor (SET) is a highly sensitive charge amplifier based on the Coulomb blockade that can operate near the quantum limit: amplification can be accomplished with a back-action close to that required by the uncertainty principle. Its charge sensitivity is ultimately limited to about 1micre/sqrt(Hz) by the shot noise in the source-drain current. Despite the fact that such sensitivity has been approached by some, the shot-noise limit has yet to be reached for either the SET and its RF version, the RF-SET. A scheme is proposed and realized in this thesis for the shot noise-limited detection of a Single-Electron Transistor, based on a DC-SQUID impedance-matched with a DC-biased SET. SQUIDs can operate at the quantum limit, and a microstrip SQUID amplifier has already been demonstrated to operate at almost twice the quantum-limited noise temperature at about 500MHz by M. Muck and collaborators, with a sensitivity sufficient to resolve the SET shot noise. The device has been fabricated and characterized. A 50KOhm resistor has been used as a noise source at low temperature and the measured noise levels have been estimated. Moreover, the detection noise temperature of about 110mK was derived corresponding to a current sensitivity of about 8fA/sqrt(Hz) for the detection of a 100KOhm resistor.en-USDissertationPhysics, Condensed MatterDC-SQUIDSETimpedance matchingSETcharge noise sensitivity