A nanoscale variable resistor consisting of a metal nanowire (active element), a dielectric, and a gate, is proposed. By means of the gate voltage, stochastic transitions between different conducting states of the nanowire can be induced, with a switching time as fast as picoseconds. With an appropriate choice of dielectric, the transconductance of the device, which may also be considered an ``electromechanical transistor,'' is shown to significantly exceed the conductance quantum G_0=2e^2/h, a remarkable figure of merit for a nanoscale device.
@article{arxiv.0807.1526,
title = {Proposal for a nanoscale variable resistor/electromechanical transistor},
author = {J. Bürki and C. A. Stafford and D. L. Stein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.1526},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
6 pages, 8 figures. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version will be superseded