2008/07/09 by J. Bürki, Bürki, J., Charles Stafford +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Nanowire Synthesis and Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0807.1526
openalex publication_date 2008/07/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
A nanoscale variable resistor consisting of a metal nanowire (active element), a dielectric, and a gate, is proposed. By means of the gate voltage, stochastic transitions between different conducting states of the nanowire can be induced, with a switching time as fast as picoseconds. With an appropriate choice of dielectric, the transconductance of the device, which may also be considered an ``electromechanical transistor,'' is shown to significantly exceed the conductance quantum G0=2e2/h, a remarkable figure of merit for a nanoscale device.