Abstract
Negative differential resistance remains an attractive but elusive functionality, so far only finding niche applications. Atom scale entities have shown promising properties, but the viability of device fabrication requires a fuller understanding of electron dynamics than has been possible to date. Using an all-electronic time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy technique and a Green’s function transport model, we study an isolated dangling bond on a hydrogen terminated silicon surface. A robust negative differential resistance feature is identified as a many body phenomenon related to occupation dependent electron capture by a single atomic level. We measure all the time constants involved in this process and present atomically resolved, nanosecond time scale images to simultaneously capture the spatial and temporal variation of the observed feature.
- Received 28 September 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.276805
© 2016 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
Negative Resistance with a Single Atom
Published 30 December 2016
Current flowing through a single silicon atom can be made to decrease with increasing voltage, potentially allowing the integration of a new type of component into microelectronic circuits.
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