title: Enhanced semiconductor nanocrystal conductance via solution grown contacts.
abstract: We report a 100000-fold increase in the conductance of individual CdSe nanorods when they are electrically contacted via direct solution phase growth of Au tips on the nanorod ends. Ensemble UV-vis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies indicate this enhancement does not result from alloying of the nanorod. Rather, low temperature tunneling and high temperature (250-400 K) thermionic emission across the junction at the Au contact reveal a 75% lower interface barrier to conduction compared to a control sample. We correlate this barrier lowering with the electronic structure at the Au-CdSe interface. Our results emphasize the importance of a nanocrystal surface structure for robust device performance and the advantage of this contact method.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Sheldon
authors.forename: Paul-Emile
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Trudeau
authors.forename: Taleb
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mokari
authors.forename: Lin-Wang
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: A Paul
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Alivisatos