Electron transport in Si nanochains/nanowires

Electronic transport properties of a bundle of Si nanochains/nanowires were investigated. Si nanochains and nanowires were grown via a self-organized vapor-liquid-solid process and located on a pair of electrodes with a gap of several hundred nanometers. Unstable and a variety of current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were observed and some of those were Coulomb staircase-like. In addition, fluctuations which were seemingly random but partly and partially reproducible were observed in I-V curves of a parallel junction of a nanochain and a nanowire.