title: Coulomb blockade behaviors in individual Au nanoparticles as observed through noncontact atomic force spectroscopy at room temperature.
abstract: Coulomb blockade behaviors in individual Au nanoparticles of 2 nm core diameter in double-barrier structures have been studied by means of noncontact atomic force spectroscopy (NC-AFS) at room temperature. The Au nanoparticles with a 1-decanethiol ligand were chemisorbed by 1,10-decanedithiol molecules of a mixed 1-octanethiol/1,10-decanedithiol self-assembled monolayer coated on a Au(111) surface; these particles were observed through NC-AFS. NC-AFS measurements of the cantilever frequency shift-sample voltage (Δf-V(S)) curves were sequentially conducted on three Au nanoparticles under the same experimental conditions; the Δf-V(S) curves were found to deviate from the parabolic (Δf(N)) curve in the cases where no extra charge existed on the Au core. The experimental Δf(CB)(=Δf-Δf(N)) and Δf(CB)/V curves agree well with the theoretical curves obtained using a golden-rule calculation and the same parabolic parameters. All the results, through NC-AFS, suggest Coulomb blockade behaviors in the Au nanoparticles at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Azuma
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Teranishi
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Majima