Manipulation and four‐probe analysis of nanowires in UHV by application of four tunneling microscope tips: a new method for the investigation of electrical transport through nanowires

Abstract

Abstract The electrical transport properties of nanosystems, including a few kinds of nanowires, have attracted much attention because of their potential application in nanoelectronics. However, the contact effect or impurities between the nanosystems and electrodes made it difficult to study the intrinsic I–V properties in previous measurements. Here, we present a manipulation and four‐terminal method electrical transport measurement of low‐dimensional systems using a new instrument consisting of a specially designed tunneling microscope with four tips that can be positioned independently in three dimensions. The electrical conductivities of zinc oxide (ZnO), perylene, gallium sesquioxide (Ga 2 O 3 ), and cuprum‐7,7′,8,8′‐tetracyanoquinodimethane (Cu‐TCNQ) nanowires were obtained. Our results have shown that this technique is a powerful tool for studying the intrinsic transport properties of nanosystems. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.