Berlin 2005 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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TT: Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 33: Transport - Nanoelectronics III: Molecular Electronics

TT 33.8: Vortrag

Dienstag, 8. März 2005, 16:00–16:15, TU H3027

Theoretical analysis of conductance histograms of Au atomic contacts — •F. Pauly¹, M. Dreher², J.C. Cuevas¹, E. Scheer², and P. Nielaba² — ¹Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, University of Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany — ²Physics Department, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany

Many experiments have shown that the conductance histograms of metallic atomic-sized contacts exhibit a peak structure, which is characteristic of the corresponding material. In order to shed some light on the origin of these peaks, we present a theoretical analysis of the conductance histograms of Au atomic contacts, investigating the interplay between mechanical and electrical properties of these nanocontacts. We have combined classical molecular dynamics simulations of the breaking of nanocontacts with conductance calculations based on a tight-binding model. This combination gives us access to crucial information such as contact geometries, forces, minimum cross section, total conductance and transmission coefficients of the individual conduction channels. We also compare with experimental results on Au atomic contacts where the individual channel transmissions have been determined.