Related papers: Modeling contact formation between atomic-sized go…
The process of creating an atomically defined and robust metallic tip is described and quantified using measurements of contact conductance between gold electrodes and numerical simulations. Our experiments show how the same conductance…
We have studied experimentally the phenomena of jump-to-contact (JC) and jump-out-of-contact (JOC) in gold electrodes. JC can be observed at the first contact when the two metals approach each other while JOC occurs in the last contact…
Electrical conductance through various nanocontacts between gold electrodes is studied by using the density functional theory, scalar-relativistic pseudopotentials, generalized gradient approximation for the exchange-correlation energy and…
The continuing miniaturization of microelectronics raises the prospect of nanometre-scale devices with mechanical and electrical properties that are qualitatively different from those at larger dimensions. The investigation of these…
Electrochemical methods have recently become an interesting tool for fabricating and characterizing nanostructures at room temperature. Simplicity, low cost and reversibility are some of the advantages of this technique that allows to work…
Understanding the formation of metal-molecule contact at the microscopic level is the key towards controlling and manipulating atomic scale devices. Employing two isomers of bipyridine, $4, 4^\prime$ bipyridine and $2, 2^\prime$ bipyridine…
The transition from tunneling to metallic contact between two surfaces does not always involve a jump, but can be smooth. We have observed that the configuration and material composition of the electrodes before contact largely determines…
A computational approach for predictive simulations of the nanoscale morphology in the early steps of the formation of the interface between metals and organic molecular semiconductors is presented. Despite the relevance of the…
Scanning tunnelling microscopy and break-junction experiments realize metallic and molecular nanocontacts that act as ideal one-dimensional channels between macroscopic electrodes. Emergent nanoscale phenomena typical of these systems…
We study the interaction between single apex atoms in a metallic contact, using the break junction geometry. By carefully 'training' our samples, we create stable junctions in which no further atomic reorganization takes place. This allows…
Many experiments have shown that the conductance histograms of metallic atomic-sized contacts exhibit a peak structure, which is characteristic of the corresponding material. The origin of these peaks still remains as an open problem. In…
The interplay between groups of water molecules and single-atom contacts, as reflected in the electrical conductances and mechanical forces of copper atomic junctions, is explored by means of first-principles theory and semi-empirical…
To develop next-generation electronics and high efficiency energy-harvesting devices, it is crucial to understand how charge and heat are transported at the nanoscale. Metallic atomic-size contacts are ideal systems to probe the quantum…
The conductance through a quantum point contact created by a sharp and hard metal tip on the graphite surface has features which to our knowledge have not been encountered so far in metal contacts or in nanowires. In this paper we first…
A method for the calculation of the conductance of nanoscale electrical junctions is extended to ab-initio electronic structure methods and applied to realistic models of metallic wires and break-junctions of sodium and gold. The method is…
We present an in-depth study of electronic transport in atomic-sized gold contacts using Break-Junction (BJ) techniques under cryogenic and ambient conditions. Our experimental results, supported by classical molecular dynamics (CMD)…
Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy is used here to study dynamic bonding of gold atoms on surfaces under low coordination conditions. In the experiments, using an atomically-sharp gold tip, a gold adatom is deposited onto a gold…
The evolution of electron conductance in the presence of inelastic effects is studied as an atomic gold contact is formed evolving from a low-conductance regime (tunneling) to a high-conductance regime (contact). In order to characterize…
We describe a method for creating atomic-scale electric contacts. A metal source is deposited on two insulating substrates separated by a 70 nm gap. Electric conductance across the gap is monitored, while protrusions from the bulk extend…
Atomic-sized junctions of iron, created by controlled rupture, present unusually high values of conductance compared to other metals. This result is counter-intuitive since, at the nanoscale, body-centered cubic metals are expected to…