Feedback-Free Electromigrated Tunneling Junctions from Crack-Defined Gold Nanowires

Tunneling junctions are pairs of electrodes separated by gaps of a few nanometers that allow electrons to tunnel across the gap. Tunneling junctions are of great importance for applications such as label-free biomolecule sensing and single molecule electronics, but their fabrication remains difficult and laborious. In this paper, we present a simple 2-stage process for the fabrication of tunneling junctions consisting of electrode pairs made of gold (Au). This is achieved by combining a novel methodology for fabricating crack-defined Au nanowires at wafer-scale with a constant voltage, feedback-free electromigration procedure to form tunneling nanogaps free of debris.
QC 20200310