Break Voltage Of Au Single-Atom Contacts Formed By Junction Closure

We produced Au single-atom contacts (SACs) by contact closing and found that they show higher break voltages than SACs formed by the conventional break junction method. Our finding clearly indicates that the tensile forces inside SACs are important to obtain their high-bias stability and the SAC break voltage can be increased by reducing the tensile force. The break voltages of Pb SACs formed by scanning tunneling microscopy tip-sample touching and the break junction method have also been compared. Published by AIP Publishing.