Fabrication and near-room temperature transport of patterned gold cluster structures

Ligand stabilized metal clusters are becoming of considerable interest for possible nanoscale electronics applications. In this article, we report the fabrication and near-room temperature electrical transport properties of structures made from the gold-cluster material ${\mathrm{Au}}_{\mathrm{55}}{\mathrm{[P(C}}_{\mathrm{6}}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{5}}{\mathrm{)}}_{\mathrm{3}}{\mathrm{]}}_{\mathrm{12}}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{\mathrm{6}}.$ While other strategies to produce cluster arrays have been reported, this work is the first to use electron-beam lithography to laterally define the structures. We compare the current–voltage characteristics of nonpatterned and patterned structures, and show that in both cases the nonlinear behavior observed is consistent with Coulomb blockade dominated transport. We argue that charging of individual ${\mathrm{Au}}_{\mathrm{55}}$ cores is responsible for the effects observed.