Quantum size phenomena in single-crystalline bismuth nanostructures

Abstract

Nanoelectronics: quantum size phenomena Upon dimension reduction classic physics tends to degenerate into quantum. In metals the size quantization shows an impact on all electronic properties including conductivity. Now a team led by Prof. K. Arutyunov from Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics and Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems RAS in Russia demonstrates that in single crystalline semimetal bismuth nanorods the resistivity increases in a pronounced manner when the size is below a certain value. Specifically, for samples grown along the particular crystallographic orientation, corresponding to the lowest effective electron mass in bismuth, the electronic conductivity increases abruptly at scales of around 50 nm. These experimental findings are due to metal-to-insulator transition mediated by the quantum confinement and are in reasonable agreement with the theoretical predictions. The revealed phenomena should be taken in consideration in optimizing the next generation of quantum nanoelectronic circuits.