Editor's Summary
6 January 2005
Nanoelectronics switched on
A new atomic-scale electromechanical switch has properties that may make it suitable as an element in future nanoelectronic devices. The switch is made by simply crossing a silver sulphide wire and a platinum wire with a 1-nm spacing. When a sufficiently strong voltage pulse is applied, silver atoms from the silver sulphide are electrically introduced into the gap, forming an atomic bridge between the wires; the resulting structure exhibits quantized conduction. The formation process is reversible and the atomic bridge can be annihilated with a second voltage pulse. The 'crossbar' structure is convenient for integrating the switch into devices, opening the way for the fabrication of logic circuits using these switches as sole components.
News and Views: Device physics: Silver nanoswitch
Ionic conductors have many applications — in sensors, fuel cells and batteries. Are nanoelectronic devices based on ionic conductors now about to replace silicon?
Jan van Ruitenbeek
doi:10.1038/433021a
Letter: Quantized conductance atomic switch
K. Terabe, T. Hasegawa, T. Nakayama and M. Aono
doi:10.1038/nature03190