Morphology and transport properties of nanostructural gold on silicon.

Nanometer sized Au clusters deposited on a silicon substrate forming Au–SiO[sub 2]–Si structure are important for the development of contacts in nanotechnology. Systematic x-ray reflectivity, scanning probe microscopy, and scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements were done to understand the relationship between morphology and electrical transport properties of this nanostructural metal–insulator–semiconductor system. The presence of an interfacial layer at the metal–insulator interface dictates the tunneling current through this structure and exhibits a gap leading to a suppression of current. Local density of states and electron density/thickness of the interfacial layer have been extracted from the measurements to understand the evolution of metallicity of this Au–SiO[sub 2]–Si structure. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]