Electronic correlations and disorder in transport through one-dimensional nanoparticle arrays

Abstract

We report on a detailed study of the transport properties of one-dimensional metallic nanoparticle arrays, which focuses on threshold voltages and on the spatial distribution of potential drops across the array both below and above thresholds. We study dependences on array parameters and analyze the roles of charge and resistance disorder. We consider the case in which the interaction between charges is local and the case of long-ranged interactions separately. We show that some of the differences between the transport properties of arrays with short and long-range interactions are due to interactions between charges in different nanoparticles, while others are due to interactions between charges in the islands and those at the electrodes, which produce a polarization potential drop through the array. Finally we study how strong disorder due to charged impurities trapped in the substrate is partially screened by redistribution of charges among the nanoparticles and demonstrate that long-range interactions induce correlations in the screened disorder potentials of neighboring islands.