Quantum size effects in solitary wires of bismuth
Abstract
We have performed four-probe electrical transport measurements on solitary highly crystalline wires of semimetallic bismuth with aspect ratios up to 60 at room and at cryogenic temperatures. By proper choice of the substrate material and the film deposition parameters, lithographic wires with lateral dimensions of down to one single grain, ∼250nm , were fabricated. The electrical resistance of each wire was measured against its thickness through successive reactive ion etching of the self-same wire. Quantum size effects revealed themselves as regular oscillations in the electrical resistance. Some evidence for the semimetal-to-semiconductor phase transition has been detected. The measured data are discussed within the framework of the existing theoretical models.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review B
- Pub Date:
- November 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevB.76.205437
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0711.4816
- Bibcode:
- 2007PhRvB..76t5437F
- Keywords:
-
- 73.63.Nm;
- 73.23.-b;
- Quantum wires;
- Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 6 figures, and the LaTeX source