Shuttle transport in nanostructures

Abstract

The coupling between mechanical deformations and electronic charge transport in nanostructuresand in composite materials with nanoscale components gives rise to a new class of phenomena |nanoelectromechanical transport | and opens up a new route in nanotechnology. The interplaybetween the electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom is especially important in nanocompositesconsisting of materials with very di\uaeerent elastic properties. Mechanical degrees of freedom takeon a primary role in the charge transfer process in many single-electron devices, where transport iscontrolled by quantum-mechanical tunnelling and Coulomb interactions, but where tunnel barrierscan be modi\uafed as a result of mechanical motion. A typical system of this kind is a single-electrontransistor (SET) with deformable tunnel barriers, a so called Nano-Electro-Mechanical SET (NEM-SET). The new kind of electron transport in this and other types of nanodevices is referred to as"shuttle transport" of electrons, which implies that electrons is transferred between metallic leadsvia a movable small-sized cluster. The present review is devoted to the fundamental aspects ofshuttle transport and to a description of major developments in the theoretical and experimentalresearch in the \uafeld. Prospective applications of this exciting phenomenon that remarkably combinestraditional mechanics of materials with the most advanced e\uaeects of quantum physics, will also betouched upon