Pairs of Gold Electrodes with Nanometer Separation Performed over SiO$_2$ Substrates with a Molecular Adhesion Monolayer
| dc.creator | Mahapatro, Ajit K. | |
| dc.creator | Ghosh, Subhasis | |
| dc.creator | Janes, David B. | |
| dc.date | 2005-03-29 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T03:04:20Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T03:04:20Z | |
| dc.description | Pairs of electrodes with nanometer separation (nano-gap) are achieved through an electromigration-induced break-junction (EIBJ) technique at room temperature. Lithographically defined gold (Au) wires are formed by e-beam evaporation over oxide coated silicon substrates silanized with (3-Mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and then subjected to electromigration at room temperature to create a nanometer scale gap between the two newly formed Au electrodes. The Si-O-Si covalent bond at the SiO$_2$ surface and the Au-sulphur (Au-S) bond at the top evaporated Au side, makes MPTMS as an efficient adhesive monolayer between SiO$_2$ and Au. Although the Au wires are initially 2$μ$m wide, gaps with length $\sim$1nm and width $\sim$5nm are observed after breaking and imaging through a field effect scanning electron microscope (FESEM). This technique eliminates the presence of any residual metal interlink in the adhesion layer (chromium or titanium for Au deposition over SiO$_2$) after breaking the gold wire and it is much easier to implement than the commonly used low temperature EIBJ technique which needs to be executed at 4.2 K. Metal-molecule-metal structures with symmetrical metal-molecule contacts at both ends of the molecule, are fabricated by forming a self-assembled monolayer of -dithiol molecules between the EIBJ created Au electrodes with nanometer separation. Electrical conduction through single molecules of 1,4-Benzenedimethanethiol (XYL) is tested using the Au/XYL/Au structure with chemisorbed gold-sulfur (Au-S) coupling at both contacts. | |
| dc.description | 12 pages, 4 figures | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0503656 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0503656 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/26096 | |
| dc.subject | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics | |
| dc.subject | Materials Science | |
| dc.title | Pairs of Gold Electrodes with Nanometer Separation Performed over SiO$_2$ Substrates with a Molecular Adhesion Monolayer | |
| dc.type | text |