Fluctuation-induced tunneling conduction through RuO nanowire contacts
arXiv:1108.3497 · doi:10.1063/1.3638707
Abstract
A good understanding of the electronic conduction processes through nanocontacts is a crucial step for the implementation of functional nanoelectronic devices. We have studied the current-voltage (-) characteristics of nanocontacts between single metallic RuO nanowires (NWs) and contacting Au electrodes which were pre-patterned by simple photolithography. Both the temperature behavior of contact resistance in the low-bias voltage ohmic regime and the - curves in the high-bias voltage non-ohmic regime have been investigated. We found that the electronic conduction processes in the wide temperature interval 1--300 K can be well described by the fluctuation-induced tunneling (FIT) conduction theory. Taken together with our previous work (Lin {\it et al.}, Nanotechnology {\bf 19}, 365201 (2008)) where the nanocontacts were fabricated by delicate electron-beam lithography, our study demonstrates the general validity of the FIT model in characterizing electronic nanocontacts.
6 pages, 5 figures