AVS 47th International Symposium
    Electronics Tuesday Sessions
       Session EL+NS-TuA

Paper EL+NS-TuA10
Analysis of Non-linear Behaviour in Gold Nanowires

Tuesday, October 3, 2000, 5:00 pm, Room 312

Session: Nanoelectronics
Presenter: A. Wlasenko, McGill University, Canada
Authors: A. Wlasenko, McGill University, Canada
P. Gruetter, McGill University, Canada
Correspondent: Click to Email
In the presented experiment, a gold nanowire is formed with a mechanical break junction. A voltage bias is applied in the form of a triangle wave (typically 0.1 Hz, 2V@sub pp@) plus a small sine wave (typically 10kHz, 10mV@sub rms@) across the nanowire in series with a load resistor. A current pre-amp measures I(V), while a lock-in amplifier measures its partial derivative with respect to voltage. While others have made I(V) measurements of nanowires (Costa-Kramer et al., PRB 55, 5416 (1997) and Costa-Kramer et al., Nanoscale Science and Technology pp. 1-10 (1998) Kluwer Acedemic), the simultaneous measurement of the derivative allows powerful analysis without choosing a physical model or using mathematical fits. In general, the current is not just a function of voltage [I(X,V)=g(X)f(X,V)]. For instance, the geometry of the nanowire or presence of scatterers should have an effect on the current. The analysis indicates how changes in these non-voltage factors [X] are changing the current [@DELTA@I(@DELTA@X,V)] without having to know explicitly what these are factors are or how they are changing. It is also possible to determine how the form of current f(X,V) is changing with respect to the voltage without knowing g(X). Several individual sets of data shall be investigated that illustrate particular features of both typical and atypical nanowire behaviour. A discussion is presented of the possible physical arguments concerning these features and general trends.