1997/11/30 by L. Y. Gorelik, A. Isacsson, M. V. Voinova +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.80.4526
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4526 (1998). · 4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 1998/03/04 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
Room-temperature Coulomb blockade of charge transport through composite nanostructures containing organic inter-links has recently been observed. A pronounced charging effect in combination with the softness of the molecular links implies that charge transfer gives rise to a significant deformation of these structures. For a simple model system containing one nanoscale metallic cluster connected by molecular links to two bulk metallic electrodes we show that self-excitation of periodic cluster oscillations in conjunction with sequential processes of cluster charging and decharging appears for a sufficiently large bias voltage. This new `electron shuttle' mechanism of discrete charge transfer gives rise to a current through the nanostructure, which is proportional to the cluster vibration frequency.