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Thermoelectric voltage measurements of atomic and molecular wires using microheater-embedded
Takanori Morikawa1, Akihide Arima, Makusu Tsutsui
1The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan. tsutsui@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp taniguti@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp.
Abstract:
We developed a method for simultaneous measurements of conductance and thermopower of atomic and molecular junctions by using a microheater-embedded mechanically-controllable break junction. We find linear increase in the thermoelectric voltage of Au atomic junctions with the voltage added to the heater. We also detect thermopower oscillations at several conductance quanta reflecting the quantum confinement effects in the atomic wire. Under high heater voltage conditions, on the other hand, we observed a peculiar behaviour in the conductance dependent thermopower, which was ascribed to a disordered contact structure under elevated temperatures.
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