Ballistic resistivity in aluminum nanocontacts

TL;DR

This paper introduces the concept of ballistic resistivity in aluminum nanocontacts, derived from simulations linking conductance to contact geometry, providing insights into nanoscale electronic transport efficiency.

Contribution

It presents a new transport parameter called ballistic resistivity, based on a linear conductance-cross-section relationship in aluminum nanocontacts, bridging mechanical and electronic properties.

Findings

Linear conductance-minimum cross-section relationship for aluminum nanocontacts

Definition of ballistic resistivity as a new transport parameter

Validation across a broad conductance range

Abstract

One of the major industrial challenges is to profit from some fascinating physical features present at the nanoscale. The production of dissipationless nanoswitches (or nanocontacts) is one of such attractive applications. Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge of the real efficiency of electronic ballistic/non dissipative transport limits future innovations. For multi-valent metallic nanosystems -where several transport channels per atom are involved- the only experimental technique available for statistical transport characterization is the conductance histogram. Unfortunately its interpretation is difficult because transport and mechanical properties are intrinsically interlaced. We perform a representative series of semiclassical molecular dynamics simulations of aluminum nanocontact breakages, coupled to full quantum conductance calculations, and put in evidence a linear relationship between the conductance and the contact minimum cross-section for the geometrically favored aluminum nanocontact configurations. Valid in a broad range of conductance values, such relation allows the definition of a transport parameter for nanomaterials, that represents the novel concept of ballistic resistivity.