Tunable nanometer electrode gaps by MeV ion irradiation.
Appl Phys Lett
; 100(15): 153108-1531083, 2012 Apr 09.
Article
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| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22550357
ABSTRACT
We report the use of MeV ion-irradiation-induced plastic deformation of amorphous materials to fabricate electrodes with nanometer-sized gaps. Plastic deformation of the amorphous metal Pd(80)Si(20) is induced by 4.64 MeV O(2+) ion irradiation, allowing the complete closing of a sub-micrometer gap. We measure the evolving gap size in situ by monitoring the field emission current-voltage (I-V) characteristics between electrodes. The I-V behavior is consistent with Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. We show that using feedback control on this signal permits gap size fabrication with atomic-scale precision. We expect this approach to nanogap fabrication will enable the practical realization of single molecule controlled devices and sensors.
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Appl Phys Lett
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2012
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Article