AVS 46th International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division Monday Sessions
       Session NS2-MoA

Paper NS2-MoA8
High-Bias Conductance of Au Nanowires at 4 K

Monday, October 25, 1999, 4:20 pm, Room 6C

Session: Quantum Dots and Wires
Presenter: A. Sakai, Kyoto University, Japan
Authors: A. Sakai, Kyoto University, Japan
K. Yuki, Kyoto University, Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have studied the bias dependence of the quantized conductance of Au nanowires at 4 K. The experiment was carried out on Au relay contacts which were directly immersed in liquid He. A well-defined 1G@sub 0@ peak (G@sub 0@=2e@super 2@/h is the conductance quantum unit) appears in the conductance histogram, as observed in previous work.@footnote 1@ With increasing the bias, the 1G@sub 0@ peak decreases in height, while its position remains unshifted. This behavior of the 1G@sub 0@ peak is just the same as that observed at room temperature.@footnote 2@ The critical bias V@sub c@ at which the 1G@sub 0@ peak disappears is 2.4 V, which is slightly higher than the values at room temperature (1.9 V) and at 77 K (2.2 V). This weak temperature dependence of V@sub c@ implies that the high-bias instability of the 1G@sub 0@ state of Au is not due to Joule heating effects. Our experimental results are rather consistent with the electromigration of contact atoms which predicts linear and moderate increase in V@sub c@ with decreasing temperature. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@J. L. Costa-Krämer, N. García, and H. Olin, Phys. Rev. B 55, 19 (1997). @footnote 2@H. Yasuda and A. Sakai, Phys. Rev. B 56, 1069 (1997).