Preparation of Single Cu Nanowire and in-situ Study of Its Electrical Properties

Metal nanowires, as one of the most crucial components of nanoelectronic devices in the future, have attracted enormous attention. Therefore, it is of great significance to investigate the electrical properties of single metal nanowires. Herein, the single Cu nanowire with diameter of 64 nm was successfully prepared by using single-ion track template method combined with electrochemical deposition approach, and its I-V curve was measured. Such a diameter represents the thinnest one as comparing the reported ones obtained by the same method. The results illustrated that the process of formation and growth, as well as the final diameter of single nanochannel in template can be monitored and measured by conductance method. During the electrochemical deposition, the dynamic evolution of the deposition of nanowire can be clearly reflected through the deposition current and deposition time. At the same time, I-V measurements reveal that the Cu nanowire has typical metallic characteristic. For the first time, the resistivity of such a thin nanowire is obtained and its resistivity is 3.46 μΩ·cm which is around twice that of Cu bulk materials. The increase of resistivity is believed coming from finite size effects and may be related to the electrons scattering at the grain boundaries and surfaces.