Statistical evidence of strain induced breaking of metallic point contacts

M Alwan (1) , N R Candoni (1) , Philippe Dumas (1) , H R Klein (1)

1 CINaM - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille

A Scanning Tunneling Microscopy in Break Junction regime and a Mechanically Controllable Break Junction are used to acquire thousands of conductance-elongation curves by stretching until breaking and reconnecting Au junctions. From a robust statistical analysis performed on large sets of experiments , parameters such as lifetime, elongation and occurrence probabilities are extracted. The analysis of results obtained for different stretching speeds of the electrodes indicates that the breaking mechanism of di-and mono-atomic junction is identical, and that the junctions undergo atomic rearrangement during their stretching and at the moment of breaking. PACS. 73.63.Rt electronic transport in nanocontacts – 81.07.Lk fabrication of nanocontacts

Keywords: Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures

Domains: Physics [physics]

M Alwan, N R Candoni, Philippe Dumas, H R Klein. Statistical evidence of strain induced breaking of metallic point contacts. The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, 2013, 86, pp.243. ⟨10.1140/epjb/e2013-40040-5⟩. ⟨hal-01424938⟩