Low-frequency noise in silicon nanogaps

Journal article, 2005

Silicon nanogaps are contact structures for connecting organic molecules. An insulating layer is removed by etching, and this dramatically increases the current levels and the noise, which closely resembles a 1/f-law and scales with the square of the current. After etching the noise level at 30 Hz and 10 nA is in the order of 10-21 A2/Hz, which is more than two orders of magnitude larger than before etching. We model the noisy behavior by several percolation paths in parallel at the etched surface between the electrodes, and compare with soft breakdown in thin oxide.