Formation and manipulation of a metallic wire of single gold atoms

Article Abstract:

Quantum properties of conductance can be seen when a metallic contact is broken. Prior to the abrupt transition to tunnelling, the electrical conductance via a monovalent metal contact is near to a value of 2e(super2)/h, with e the charge on an electron, and h is Planck's constant. The breaking of atomic-scale gold contacts is described, whereby gold chains one atom thick and four atoms long are formed.

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Direct mechanical measurement of interatomic potentials

Article Abstract:

A modified atomic force microscope directly measures the interatomic forces between a tip and the sample surface as a function of separation. A magnetically controlled feedback mechanism enables the mapping of reversible curves for separations closer than the point of inflection in the potential-energy curves. These measurements characterize the variation of potential energy with interatomic spacing.

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Manipulation of atoms across a surface at room temperature

Article Abstract:

The precise positioning of atoms on a copper surface was demonstrated at room temperature.

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