title: Correlating electronic transport to atomic structures in self-assembled quantum wires.
abstract: Quantum wires, as a smallest electronic conductor, are expected to be a fundamental component in all quantum architectures. The electronic conductance in quantum wires, however, is often dictated by structural instabilities and electron localization at the atomic scale. Here we report on the evolutions of electronic transport as a function of temperature and interwire coupling as the quantum wires of GdSi(2) are self-assembled on Si(100) wire-by-wire. The correlation between structure, electronic properties, and electronic transport are examined by combining nanotransport measurements, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density functional theory calculations. A metal-insulator transition is revealed in isolated nanowires, while a robust metallic state is obtained in wire bundles at low temperature. The atomic defects lead to electron localizations in isolated nanowire, and interwire coupling stabilizes the structure and promotes the metallic states in wire bundles. This illustrates how the conductance nature of a one-dimensional system can be dramatically modified by the environmental change on the atomic scale.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Shengyong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Tae-Hwan
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yanning
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: Hanno H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Weitering
authors.forename: Chih-Kang
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Arthur P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Baddorf
authors.forename: Ruqian
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: An-Ping
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D014173:Transistors, Electronic
chemical_list: D005682:Gadolinium; D012825:Silicon