title: Fabrication of shuttle-junctions for nanomechanical transfer of electrons.
abstract: We report on the fabrication of nanomechanical devices for shuttling of electrons from one electrode to another. Each device consists of a 20 nm diameter gold nanoparticle embedded within the gap between two gold electrodes. In two different kinds of shuttle-junctions the nanoparticle is attached to the electrodes through either (i) a single layer of 1,8-octanedithiol or (ii) a multilayer of 1-octanethiol molecules. The thiol layers play the role of 'damped springs', such that when a sufficient voltage bias is applied to the junction, the nanoparticle is expected to start oscillating and thereby transferring electrons from one electrode to the other. For both kinds of shuttle-junctions we observed an abrupt increase in the transmitted current above a threshold voltage, which can be attributed to a transition from the stationary to the oscillating regime. The threshold voltage was found to be lower for single-layer shuttle-junctions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Bath, Claverton Down Road, Bath BA27AS, UK. A.Moskalenko@bath.ac.uk
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Moskalenko
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Gordeev
authors.forename: O F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Koentjoro
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Raithby
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marken
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savel'ev