Feedback-controlled electromigration for the fabrication of point contacts

Abstract

Lithographically fabricated point contacts serve as important examples of mesoscopic conductors, as electrodes for molecular electronics, and as ultra-sensitive transducers for mechanical motion. We have developed a reproducible technique for fabricating metallic point contacts though electromigration. We employ fast analog feedback in a four-wire configuration in combination with slower computer controlled feedback to avoid catastrophic instability. This hybrid system allows electromigration to proceed while dissipating approximately constant power in the wire. We are able to control the final resistance of the point contact precisely below 5 kΩ and to within a factor of three when the target resistance approaches 12 kΩ where only a single conducting channel remains.

References in corpus (5)

• Intrinsic noise properties of atomic point contact displacement detectors
• Feedback controlled electromigration in four-terminal nano-junctions
• Scanning probe microscopy imaging of metallic nanocontacts
• Scattering approach to backaction in coherent nanoelectromechanical systems
• Realization of GHz-frequency impedance matching circuits for nano-scale devices

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Massively parallel fabrication of crack-defined gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps for molecular devices
• The role of titanium in electromigrated tunnel junctions
• Two-dimensional simulations of temperature and current-density distribution in electromigrated structures
• Utility of NISQ devices: optimizing experimental parameters for the fabrication of Au atomic junction using gate-based quantum computers