FLUCTUATORS IN DISORDERED METALLIC POINT CONTACTS - A SIMULATION APPROACH

Electron transport through amorphous monatomic metallic structures gen erated earlier by molecular dynamics simulations is studied numericall y. The interference of electronic trajectories backscattered by the st ructural disorder probes the multistable structural relaxations respon sible for low-frequency noise in real metallic contacts. The structure of these modes is illustrated; the dependence of the magnitude of the noise on the size and structure of the modes is studied. The transiti on from a multistable behaviour to a more complex one is observed for temperatures far below the melting temperature. The current fluctuatio ns observed numerically resemble the complex behaviour reported earlie r for current noise in small metallic structures at moderate temperatu res.