arXiv subjects

A. Isacsson

Publications and source records attributed to A. Isacsson.

20 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv1998

Shuttle Instability in Self-Assembled Coulomb Blockade Nanostructures

We study a simple model of a self-assembled, room temperature Coulomb-blockade nanostructure containing a metallic nanocrystal or grain connected by soft molecular links to two metallic electrodes. Self-excitation of periodic grain vibrations at 10 - 100 GHz is shown to be possible for a sufficiently large bias voltage leading to a novel `shuttle mechanism' of discrete charge transfer and a current through the nanostructure proportional to the vibration frequency. For the case of weak electromechanical coupling an analytical approach is developed which together with Monte Carlo simulations shows that the shuttle instability for structures with high junction resistances leads to hysteresis in the current - voltage characteristics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1998

Shuttle Mechanism for Charge Transfer in Coulomb Blockade Nanostructures

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.

cond-mat↗