Single atom adhesion in optimized gold nanojunctions

Abstract

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 us to study the relation between the so-called jump out of contact (from contact to tunnelling regime) and jump to contact (from tunnelling to contact regime) in detail. Our data can be fully understood within a relatively simple elastic model, where the elasticity k of the electrodes is the only free parameter. We find 5 < k < 32 N/m. Furthermore, the interaction between the two apex atoms on both electrodes, observed as a change of slope in the tunnelling regime, is accounted for by the same model.

References in corpus (8)

• Quantum properties of atomic-sized conductors
• Formation and manipulation of a metallic wire of single gold atoms
• Mechanical properties and formation mechanisms of a wire of single gold atoms
• Surface Relaxations, Current Enhancements, and Absolute Distances in High Resolution Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
• Calibration of the length of a chain of single gold atoms
• Structure and conductance histogram of atomic-sized Au contacts
• Formation of a Metallic Contact: Jump to Contact Revisited
• Atomic size oscillations in conductance histograms for gold nanowires and the influence of work hardening

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• The role of first neighbors geometry in the electronic and mechanical properties of atomic contacts
• Probing Metal-Molecule Contact at the Atomic Scale via Conductance Jump
• Resonant transport in a highly conducting single molecular junction via metal-metal covalent bond
• Public exhibit for demonstrating the quantum of electrical conductance
• Dynamic bonding influenced by the proximity of adatoms to one-atom high step edges