A V Moskalenko et al 2009 Nanotechnology 20 485202 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/20/48/485202
A V Moskalenko1, S N Gordeev1, O F Koentjoro2, P R Raithby2, R W French2, F Marken2 and S Savel'ev3
Show affiliationsWe report on the fabrication of nanomechanical devices for shuttling of electrons from one electrode to another. Each device consists of a 20 nm diameter gold nanoparticle embedded within the gap between two gold electrodes. In two different kinds of shuttle-junctions the nanoparticle is attached to the electrodes through either (i) a single layer of 1,8-octanedithiol or (ii) a multilayer of 1-octanethiol molecules. The thiol layers play the role of 'damped springs', such that when a sufficient voltage bias is applied to the junction, the nanoparticle is expected to start oscillating and thereby transferring electrons from one electrode to the other. For both kinds of shuttle-junctions we observed an abrupt increase in the transmitted current above a threshold voltage, which can be attributed to a transition from the stationary to the oscillating regime. The threshold voltage was found to be lower for single-layer shuttle-junctions.
81.16.-c Methods of nanofabrication and processing
73.63.-b Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures
Issue 48 (2 December 2009)
Received 20 August 2009
Published 4 November 2009
A V Moskalenko et al 2009 Nanotechnology 20 485202
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