Conductance of Atomic-Sized Lead Contacts in an Electrochemical Environment

TL;DR

This study investigates the conductance properties of atomic-sized lead contacts created in an electrochemical environment, combining experimental measurements with DFT calculations to understand their transport behavior.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the conductance of lead at the atomic scale, demonstrating the agreement between experimental data and theoretical models for various contact geometries.

Findings

Conductance histograms show sharply resolved peaks.

DFT calculations match experimental conductance values.

Atomic configuration significantly affects conductance.

Abstract

Atomic-sized lead (Pb) contacts are deposited and dissolved in an electrochemical environment, and their transport properties are measured. Due to the electrochemical fabrication process, we obtain mechanically unstrained contacts and conductance histograms with sharply resolved, individual peaks. Charge transport calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) for various ideal Pb contact geometries are in good agreement with the experimental results. Depending on the atomic configuration, single-atom-wide contacts of one and the same metal yield very different conductance values.