Effect of the long-range interaction in transport through one-dimensional nanoparticle arrays

TL;DR

This paper investigates how long-range Coulomb interactions influence electrical transport in one-dimensional metallic nanoparticle arrays, revealing modifications in threshold voltage, I-V characteristics, and disorder screening effects.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the impact of long-range interactions on transport properties, including the role of electrode interactions and disorder screening, which was not thoroughly explored before.

Findings

Long-range interactions alter the threshold voltage and I-V curves.

Interactions between charges in different nanoparticles create correlations in disorder potentials.

Electrode interactions induce a polarization potential drop across the array.

Abstract

We analyze the effect of the long-range interaction on the transport properties through ordered and disordered one-dimensional metallic nanoparticle arrays. We discuss how the threshold voltage, the I-V curves and the voltage drop through the array are modified as compared to the case in which interactions are restricted to charges placed on the same island. We show that some of these modifications are due to finite interactions between charges in different nanoparticles while other ones are due to interactions between charges in the islands and those at the electrodes, what produces a polarization potential drop through the array. We study the screening of the disorder potential due to charges impurities trapped in the substrate and find that long-range interactions introduce correlations between the disorder potentials of neighboring islands.