FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF METALLIC NANOWIRES

The shape of metallic constrictions of nanoscopic dimensions (necks) f ormed using a scanning tunneling microscope is shown to depend on the fabrication procedure. Submitting the neck to repeated plastic deforma tion cycles makes it possible to obtain long necks or nanowires. Point -contact spectroscopy results show that these long necks are quite cry stalline, indicating thar the repeated cycles of plastic deformation a ct as a ''mechanical annealing'' of the neck.