TY - JOUR
T1 - Clean electromigrated nanogaps imaged by transmission electron microscopy
AU - Strachan, Douglas R.
AU - Smith, Deirdre E.
AU - Fischbein, Michael D.
AU - Johnston, Danvers E.
AU - Guiton, Beth S.
AU - Drndić, Marija
AU - Bonnell, Dawn A.
AU - Johnson, Alan T.
PY - 2006/3
Y1 - 2006/3
N2 - Electromigrated nanogaps have shown great promise for use in molecular scale electronics. We have fabricated nanogaps on free-standing transparent SiN x membranes which permit the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to image the gaps. The electrodes are formed by extending a recently developed controlled electromigration procedure and yield a nanogap with approximately 5 nm separation clear of any apparent debris. The gaps are stable, on the order of hours as measured by TEM, but over time (months) relax to about 20 nm separation determined by the surface energy of the Au electrodes. A major benefit of electromigrated nanogaps on SiN x membranes is that the junction pinches in away from residual metal left from the Au deposition which could act as a parasitic conductance path. This work has implications to the design of clean metallic electrodes for use in nanoscale devices where the precise geometry of the electrode is important.
AB - Electromigrated nanogaps have shown great promise for use in molecular scale electronics. We have fabricated nanogaps on free-standing transparent SiN x membranes which permit the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to image the gaps. The electrodes are formed by extending a recently developed controlled electromigration procedure and yield a nanogap with approximately 5 nm separation clear of any apparent debris. The gaps are stable, on the order of hours as measured by TEM, but over time (months) relax to about 20 nm separation determined by the surface energy of the Au electrodes. A major benefit of electromigrated nanogaps on SiN x membranes is that the junction pinches in away from residual metal left from the Au deposition which could act as a parasitic conductance path. This work has implications to the design of clean metallic electrodes for use in nanoscale devices where the precise geometry of the electrode is important.
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U2 - 10.1021/nl052302a
DO - 10.1021/nl052302a
M3 - Article
C2 - 16522038
AN - SCOPUS:33645388396
SN - 1530-6984
VL - 6
SP - 441
EP - 444
JO - Nano Letters
JF - Nano Letters
IS - 3
ER -