https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050319
Imaging and tunneling spectroscopy of gold nanocrystals and nanocrystal arrays
1
2
School of Chemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta, GA 30332-0400, USA
3
School of Physics, Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0430, USA
4
Microelectronics Research
Center, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0269, USA
Received:
10
September
1998
Revised:
16
February
1999
Published online: 15 June 1999
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) have been used to determine the structural and electronic properties of thiol-passivated 29000 amu gold nanocrystals, both individually and in spontaneously formed quasi-two-dimensional arrays. Experiments were performed at temperatures of 300 K, 77 K, and 8 K. Even at room temperature, tunneling through these 1.7 nm nanocrystals is shown to give rise to a Coulomb blockade. At cryogenic temperatures, the spectroscopy of the nanocrystals in arrays and in isolation shows an incremental charging effect (the Coulomb staircase) and evidence is found for quantization of the electronic states.
PACS: 61.46.+w – Clusters, nanoparticles, and nanocrystalline materials / 71.24.+q – Electronic structure of clusters and nanoparticles / 73.61.Tm – Nanocrystalline materials
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1999
