AVS 45th International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division Thursday Sessions
       Session NS-ThP

Paper NS-ThP23
Adsorbate Effect on Conductance Quantization in Metallic Nanowires

Thursday, November 5, 1998, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A

Session: Nanometer-Scale Science and Technology Division Poster Session
Presenter: C.Z. Li, Florida International University
Authors: C.Z. Li, Florida International University
H. Sha, Florida International University
M. Adam, Florida International University
N.J. Tao, Florida International University
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We have studied conductance quantization in metallic nanowires upon adsorption of molecules with different adsorption strengths. The conductance still changes in a stepwise fashion even in the presence of strong adsorption, and the average sharpness, length and number of the conductance steps remain unchanged. However, the step positions deviate significantly from the integer values of the conductance quantum, 2e2/h. While the deviation may be attributed to the scattering of the ballistic electrons by the adsorbates, evidence shows that the adsorbates also affect the conductance by changing the atomic configurations of the nanowires. @FootnoteText@ Financial support is acknowledged through grants from AFSOR (F49620-96-1-0346) and NIH (GM-08205).