Interplay of Conductance, Force, and Structural Change in Metallic Point Contacts

Markus Ternes, César González, Christopher P. Lutz, Prokop Hapala, Franz J. Giessibl, Pavel Jelínek, and Andreas J. Heinrich
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 016802 – Published 5 January 2011
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Abstract

The coupling between two atomically sharp nanocontacts provides tunable access to a fundamental underlying interaction: the formation of the bond between two atoms as they are brought into contact. Here we report a detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of the relation between the chemical force and the tunneling current during bond formation in atom-scale metallic junctions and their dependence on distance, junction structure, and material. We found that the short-range force as well as the conductance in two prototypical metal junctions depend exponentially on the distance and that they have essentially the same exponents. In the transition regime between tunneling and point contact, large short-range forces generate structural relaxations which are concomitant with modifications of the surface electronic structure and the collapse of the tunneling barrier.

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  • Received 31 August 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.016802

© 2011 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Markus Ternes1,2,*, César González3,4, Christopher P. Lutz1, Prokop Hapala3, Franz J. Giessibl5, Pavel Jelínek3,†, and Andreas J. Heinrich1

  • 1IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120, USA
  • 2Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
  • 3Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Cukrovarnicka 10, 162 00, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 4Instituto Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, 28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
  • 5Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Regensburg, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany

  • *m.ternes@fkf.mpg.de
  • jelinekp@fzu.cz

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 1 — 7 January 2011

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