title: Three-terminal electric transport measurements on gold nano-particles combined with ex situ TEM inspection.
abstract: We have fabricated nanometer-spaced electrodes on electron-transparent silicon nitride membranes. A thin Cr/Au layer is evaporated on the backside of the membrane which serves as a gate electrode. Using these devices, we have performed three-terminal electron transport measurements on gold nano-particles at liquid helium temperature. Coulomb Blockade features have been observed and the capacitance to the gate has been extracted. After transport measurements, the Cr/Au back gate is removed and the devices are inspected with a transmission-electron microscope (TEM). TEM inspection reveals the presence of a few nano-particles in the nanogap, which is in agreement with the transport measurements. In addition, the nano-particle size as observed by TEM coincides with the one estimated from the gate capacitance value.
authors.affiliation: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Osorio
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Babaei Gaven
authors.forename: H S J
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: van der Zant
mesh_terms: D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002857:Chromium; D006046:Gold