Massively parallel fabrication of crack-defined gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps for molecular devices

Valentin Dubois, Shyamprasad N. Raja, Pascal Gehring, Sabina Caneva, Herre S. J. Zant, Frank Niklaus () and Göran Stemme ()
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Valentin Dubois: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Shyamprasad N. Raja: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Pascal Gehring: Delft University of Technology
Sabina Caneva: Delft University of Technology
Herre S. J. Zant: Delft University of Technology
Frank Niklaus: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Göran Stemme: KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Break junctions provide tip-shaped contact electrodes that are fundamental components of nano and molecular electronics. However, the fabrication of break junctions remains notoriously time-consuming and difficult to parallelize. Here we demonstrate true parallel fabrication of gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps on the wafer-scale, by relying on a novel self-breaking mechanism based on controlled crack formation in notched bridge structures. We achieve fabrication densities as high as 7 million junctions per cm2, with fabrication yields of around 7% for obtaining crack-defined break junctions with sub-3 nm gaps of fixed gap width that exhibit electron tunneling. We also form molecular junctions using dithiol-terminated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE3) to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for electrical probing of molecules down to liquid helium temperatures. Our technology opens a whole new range of experimental opportunities for nano and molecular electronics applications, by enabling very large-scale fabrication of solid-state break junctions.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05785-2

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