Effect of tunneling on the electrical conductivity of nanowire-based films: computer simulation within a core--shell model

TL;DR

This study uses computer simulations to analyze how tunneling affects electrical conductivity in nanowire networks, revealing that tunneling lowers the percolation threshold but has minimal impact on dense networks.

Contribution

It provides a detailed simulation-based analysis of tunneling effects, incorporating multiple resistance types within a core-shell model for nanowire networks.

Findings

Tunneling contribution is proportional to the square of wire concentration.

Tunneling decreases the percolation threshold.

Tunneling has negligible effect on dense networks' conductance.

Abstract

We have studied the electrical conductivity of two-dimensional nanowire networks. An analytical evaluation of the contribution of tunneling to their electrical conductivity suggests that it is proportional to the square of the wire concentration. Using computer simulation, three kinds of resistance were taken into account, viz., (i) the resistance of the wires, (ii) the wire---wire junction resistance, and (iii) the tunnel resistance between wires. We found that the percolation threshold decreased due to tunneling. However, tunneling had negligible effect on the electrical conductance of dense nanowire networks.