On the formation and the stability of suspended transition metal monatomic chains

TL;DR

This study uses Tight-Binding Molecular Dynamics to analyze the stability and electronic structure of suspended monatomic transition metal chains, revealing temperature-dependent stability and implications for conductance experiments.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the stability conditions and electronic properties of transition metal monatomic chains, highlighting limitations in experimental detection methods.

Findings

Stable chains form below specific temperatures for Au, Ag, and Cu.

Stability is linked to sd orbital hybridization.

Conductance measurements have fundamental limitations in detecting these chains.

Abstract

We present a Tight-Binding Molecular Dynamics investigation of the stability, the geometrical and the electronic structure of suspended monatomic transition metal chains. We show that linear and stable monatomic chains are formed at temperature equal or smaller than 500 K for Au, 200 K for Ag and 4 K for Cu. We also evidence that such stability is associated with the persisting sd orbital hybridization along the chains. The study highlight fundamental limitations of conductance measurement experiments to detect these chains in the breaking process of nanowires.