https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2003-00144-3
Electrical measurements of nanoscale bismuth cluster films
1
Nanostructure Engineering Science and Technology (NEST) Group and
The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
2
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
3
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand
Corresponding author: a simon.brown@canterbury.ac.nz
Received:
10
September
2002
Published online:
3
July
2003
A range of percolating atomic cluster films, with nanoscale overall dimensions, have been studied using a combination of in situ and ex situ electrical transport measurements, together with field emission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Bismuth clusters with mean diameter 20 nm were deposited between electrical contacts defined by electron beam lithography. The morphology of the films can be understood within percolation theory, and the electrical measurements show complex behaviour characteristic of both percolation effects and modification of the cluster films by current flow and by oxidation. 81.07.-b Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization
PACS: 73.63.-b – Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures / 36.40.-c – Atomic and molecular clusters / 64.60.Ak – Renormalization-group, fractal, and percolation studies of phase transitions
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2003
