title: Ultra-low breakdown voltage and origin of 1/f(2) noise in metallic nanorod arrays.
abstract: The application of a dc voltage to an array of copper nanorods causes field evaporation of atoms from the tips, resulting in their progressive sharpening and a further increase in the local field. The process is self-limited by the build-up of space charge on the nanorod tips. From an analysis of the conductance noise recorded across the nanorod array, we show that the conduction mechanism bears a strong analogy with the stick-slip problem in sliding friction. The in situ sharpening results in an unprecedented lowering of the breakdown voltage of air by over 90%, as compared to plane parallel electrodes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400005, India.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Shankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Rajarshi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Pushan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ayyub