Fabrication of quantum devices by Ångström-level manipulation of nanoparticles with an atomic force microscope
- 2 February 1998
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 72 (5) , 548-550
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.120754
Abstract
We describe a technique for the fabrication of lateral nanometer-scale devices, in which individual metallic nanoparticles are imaged, selected and manipulated into a gap between two electrical leads with the tip of an atomic force microscope. In situ, real-time monitoring of the device characteristics is used to control the positions of the particles down to atomic accuracy and to tune the electrical properties of the device during fabrication. Using this technique we demonstrate a nanomechanical switch as well as atomic-scale contacts that are stable at quantized conductance levels on the time scale of hours at room temperature.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Do Histograms Constitute a Proof for Conductance Quantization?Physical Review Letters, 1997
- Conduction Channel Transmissions of Atomic-Size Aluminum ContactsPhysical Review Letters, 1997
- Quantized conductance in atom-sized wires between two metalsPhysical Review B, 1995
- Spectroscopic Measurements of Discrete Electronic States in Single Metal ParticlesPhysical Review Letters, 1995
- Properties of Metallic Nanowires: From Conductance Quantization to LocalizationScience, 1995
- One-atom point contactsPhysical Review B, 1993
- Conductance and supercurrent discontinuities in atomic-scale metallic constrictions of variable widthPhysical Review Letters, 1992
- Incremental Charging of Single Small ParticlesPhysical Review Letters, 1988
- Defect Interactions and Noise in Metallic NanoconstrictionsPhysical Review Letters, 1988
- Observation of the incremental charging of Ag particles by single electronsPhysical Review Letters, 1987