Electric Conduction of Amorphous Carbon and Graphitic Nanocontacts

概要

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The structural variation of amorphous carbon (a-C) nanocontacts (NCs) during voltage application was observed in situ on an atomic scale inside a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. Simultaneously, the current–voltage characteristics of a-C NCs were measured. The maximum current density and resistivity of a-C NCs were $2.8\times 10^{11}$ A/m2 and $8.5\times 10^{-3}$ $\Omega$ m at a bias voltage of 2.3 V, respectively. When the voltage was reduced to below 1.4 V, the current was maintained at zero. During this voltage reduction, the a-C NCs transformed into graphitic NCs with a thickness of 2–3 atomic layers. Although the maximum current density and resistivity of the graphitic NCs at a bias voltage of 2.3 V were comparable to those of a-C NCs, the graphitic structure withstood a bias voltage of up to 3.3 V. The present observation shows that stable graphitic NCs can be obtained by the first voltage application.
INSTITUTE OF PURE AND APPLIED PHYSICSの論文
2009-01-25