Ramachandran, G.
, Edelstein, M.
, Blackburn, D.
, Suehle, J.
, Vogel, E.
and Richter, C.
(2005),
Nanometer Gaps in Gold Wires Are Formed By Thermal Migration, Nanotechnology
(Accessed December 17, 2025)
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Nanometer Gaps in Gold Wires Are Formed By Thermal Migration
Published
Author(s)
, , , , ,
Abstract
The formation of gold wires separated by a few nanometers is reported. Such nanometer separated gaps are formed by ramping, at ambient conditions, a bias voltage across a thin gold wire until the wire breaks or fails. Externally heating the wire does not result in lowering of the mean bias or current conditions required for creating the break, although electromigration-based models predict rapid decreases in the current required to cause the break. Based on measurements of changes in resistance during the voltage ramp we determine that the temperature reached in the wires is very large and can approach the melting point of gold. To avoid deleterious effects of such large temperatures on molecules, we recommend here an alternate procedure for utilizing the break-protocol in molecular electronics.Citation
Nanotechnology
Volume
16
Pub Type
Journals
Keywords
electromigration, metal junctions, molecular electronics, nanometer, single molecule
Citation
Issues
If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].
Created June 6, 2005, Updated October 12, 2021