On the Stability and Structural Dynamics of Metal Nanowires

Abstract

This article presents a brief review of the nanoscale free-electron model, which provides a continuum description of metal nanostructures. It is argued that surface and quantum-size effects are the two dominant factors in the energetics of metal nanowires, and that much of the phenomenology of nanowire stability and structural dynamics can be understood based on the interplay of these two competing factors. A linear stability analysis reveals that metal nanocylinders with certain magic conductance values G=1, 3, 6, 12, 17, 23, 34, 42, 51, 67, 78, 96, ... times the conductance quantum are exceptionally stable. A nonlinear dynamical simulation of nanowire structural evolution reveals a universal equilibrium shape consisting of a magic cylinder suspended between unduloidal contacts. The lifetimes of these metastable structures are also computed.

8 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Surface Fluctuations and the Stability of Metal Nanowires
• Jahn-Teller Distortions and the Supershell Effect in Metal Nanowires
• Electronic shell effects and the stability of alkali nanowires

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Stability and Symmetry Breaking in Metal Nanowires
• Scaling Theory of the Peierls-CDW in Metal Nanowires
• Electronic and atomic shell structure in aluminum nanowires
• Enhanced Two-Channel Kondo Physics in a Quantum Box Device
• Discrete thinning dynamics in a continuum model of metallic nanowires
• Front propagation into unstable metal nanowires
• Lifetimes of Metal Nanowires with Broken Axial Symmetry
• Phase-field study of surface diffusion enhanced break-ups of nanowire junctions