Electron conduction through quasi-one-dimensional indium atomic wires on silicon

TL;DR

This study investigates electron conduction in quasi-one-dimensional indium atomic wires on silicon, revealing high conductance, the importance of complete wire growth for macroscopic transport, and a metal-insulator transition at 130 K.

Contribution

It provides detailed local structural analysis linking atomic wire growth to electron conduction and identifies a temperature-induced metal-insulator transition.

Findings

High conductance per square of 100 μS observed

Global conduction achieved despite surface steps

Metal-insulator transition at 130 K

Abstract

Electron conduction through quasi-one-dimensional (1D) indium atomic wires on silicon (the Si(111)-4x1-In reconstruction) is clarified with the help of local structural analysis using scanning tunneling microscopy. The reconstruction has a conductance per square as high as 100 uS, with global conduction despite numerous surface steps. A complete growth of indium wires up to both the surface steps and the lithographically printed electrodes is essential for the macroscopic transport. The system exhibits a metal-insulator transition at 130 K, consistent with a recent ultraviolet photoemission study [H. W. Yeom, S. Takeda, E. Rotenberg, I. Matsuda, K. Horikoshi, J. Schaefer, C. M. Lee, S. D. Kevan, T. Ohta, T. Nagao, and S. Hasegawa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4898 (1999)]