1 research outputs found
Correlating Electronic Transport to Atomic Structures in Self-Assembled Quantum Wires
Quantum wires, as a smallest electronic conductor, are
expected
to be a fundamental component in all quantum architectures. The electronic
conductance in quantum wires, however, is often dictated by structural
instabilities and electron localization at the atomic scale. Here
we report on the evolutions of electronic transport as a function
of temperature and interwire coupling as the quantum wires of GdSi<sub>2</sub> are self-assembled on Si(100) wire-by-wire. The correlation
between structure, electronic properties, and electronic transport
are examined by combining nanotransport measurements, scanning tunneling
microscopy, and density functional theory calculations. A metal–insulator
transition is revealed in isolated nanowires, while a robust metallic
state is obtained in wire bundles at low temperature. The atomic defects
lead to electron localizations in isolated nanowire, and interwire
coupling stabilizes the structure and promotes the metallic states
in wire bundles. This illustrates how the conductance nature of a
one-dimensional system can be dramatically modified by the environmental
change on the atomic scale