Abstract
We have studied electron tunneling across the gap between two electrodes as the gap is varied by electrodeposition and etching. The tunneling current tends to change in a stepwise fashion, corresponding to a discrete change of the gap width. The stepwise change is due to the discrete nature of atoms and a series of structural relaxations of the atoms at the electrodes between stable configurations upon deposition and etching. By stabilizing the tunneling current on various steps using a feedback loop, we have demonstrated that stable molecular-scale gaps can be fabricated with subangstrom precision.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 3995-3997 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 77 |
Issue number | 24 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 11 2000 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)