Publications [#234011] of Michael J. Therien

Papers Published

1. Strachan, DR; Smith, DE; Johnston, DE; Park, TH; Therien, MJ; Bonnell, DA; Johnson, AT, Controlled fabrication of nanogaps in ambient environment for molecular electronics 043109, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 86 no. 4 (February, 2005), pp. 1-43109, AIP Publishing, ISSN 0003-6951 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/15)

   Abstract:
   We have developed a controlled and highly reproducible method of making nanometer-spaced electrodes using electromigration in ambient lab conditions. This advance will make feasible single molecule measurements of macromolecules with tertiary and quaternary structures that do not survive the liquid-helium temperatures at which electromigration is typically performed. A second advance is that it yields gaps of desired tunneling resistance, as opposed to the random formation at liquid-helium temperatures. Nanogap formation occurs through three regimes: First it evolves through a bulk-neck regime where electromigration is triggered at constant temperature, then to a few-atom regime characterized by conductance quantum plateaus and jumps, and finally to a tunneling regime across the nanogap once the conductance falls below the conductance quantum. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.