Abstract
Relentless efforts in semiconductor technology have driven nanometer-scale miniaturization of transistors, diodes, and interconnections in electronic chips. Free-space writing enables interconnections of stacked modules separated by an arbitrary distance, leading to ultimate integration of electronics. We have developed a free-space method for nanometer-scale wiring on the basis of manipulating a metallic nanotip while applying a bias voltage without radiative heating, lithography, etching, or electrodeposition. The method is capable of fabricating wires with widths as low as 1–6 nm and lengths exceeding 200 nm with a breakdown current density of 8 TA/m2. Structural evolution and conduction during wire formation were analyzed by direct atomistic visualization using in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.
Highlights
Relentless efforts in semiconductor technology have driven nanometer-scale miniaturization of transistors, diodes, and interconnections in electronic chips
We have developed a free-space method for nanometer-scale wiring on the basis of manipulating a metallic nanotip while applying a bias voltage without radiative heating, lithography, etching, or electrodeposition
Structural evolution and conduction during wire formation were analyzed by direct atomistic visualization using in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy
Summary
Relentless efforts in semiconductor technology have driven nanometer-scale miniaturization of transistors, diodes, and interconnections in electronic chips. Downsizing free-space wiring to several nanometers, which is comparable to the sizes of transistors, diodes, and stripes on substrates, realizes the ultimate integrated electronics on the basis of laminated implementation. Thin free-space metallic wires with typical widths of several nanometers have been studied in relation to ballistic conduction, and the resulting quantization of conductance is defined by a quantum unit (G0 = 2e2/h, where e is the charge of an electron and h is Planck’s constant)[12,13,14] In this field, such NWs have been fabricated by elongation of nanometer-sized contacts, i.e., the contact of two nanotips and subsequent tensile deformation[15,16]. We demonstrate the fabrication and wire bonding of zinc (Zn) NWs via nanotip manipulation while applying bias voltages
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