Direct contact buckling of electrochemically grown gold nanowires.

We report the electrochemical growth and direct probing of near-vertical gold nanowires several micrometers long that are attached at one end to a substrate. Controllable contact is made to the wires using a straightforward tip-probe arrangement inside a scanning electron microscope. The contact allowed us to perform mechanical and electrical measurements. Through elastic nanowire buckling, we have observed dynamic low-frequency parametric pumping caused by small vibrations of the probe. A numerical simulation of the recorded motion is consistent with an estimated value of Young’s modulus of about 80 GPa, which is close to that of bulk gold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]