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.
Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Alicante, Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, Spain. untiedt@ua.es
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Untiedt
M J
MJ
Caturla
M R
MR
Calvo
J J
JJ
Palacios
R C
RC
Segers
J M
JM
van Ruitenbeek