title: Evaluation of the energy barrier for failure of Au atomic contact based on temperature dependent current-voltage characteristics.
abstract: We investigated the mechanical stability of single gold atomic contacts at an applied bias voltage of 0-1 V using a nano-fabricated mechanically controllable break junction technique at 300-400 K under ambient conditions. The single atomic contact shows the quantized conductance (G0 = 2e(2)/h) and can carry considerably large current, which results in the current-induced failure of the contact. The contact failure behaviour under the applied bias conditions was studied by statistical analysis of the current-voltage (I-V) curves of the single Au contacts. We demonstrated that, at the elevated temperature of 300-400 K, the current-induced local heating effect is negligibly small and current-induced forces in the contact are responsible for the observed failure of the single gold contacts under the high bias voltage conditions (>0.4 V). Furthermore, based on the temperature dependence of the contact failure behaviour in the I-V curves, the energy barrier of the contact-failure was evaluated to be ca. 0.1 V.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. skaneko@chem.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aiba
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. skaneko@chem.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. skaneko@chem.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shintaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. skaneko@chem.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishino
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. skaneko@chem.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiguchi