Formation of a metallic contact: jump to contact revisited.
The transition from tunneling to metallic contact between two surfaces does not always involve a jump, but can be smooth. We have observed that the configuration and material composition of the electrodes before contact largely determine the presence or absence of a jump. Moreover, when jumps are found preferential values of conductance have been identified. Through a combination of experiments, molecular dynamics, and first-principles transport calculations these conductance values are identified with atomic contacts of either monomers, dimers, or double-bond contacts.
Untiedt
C
C
Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Alicante, Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, Spain. untiedt@ua.es
Caturla
M J
MJ
Calvo
M R
MR
Palacios
J J
JJ
Segers
R C
RC
van Ruitenbeek
J M
JM