Quantum transport in an atom-sized bridge between a metal surface and a tip of a scanning tunneling microscope at finite temperature

A study was conducted to analyze electron transport in an atom-sized bridge between a metal surface and a tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. The perturbation technique was utilized to determine the self-energy against the Coulomb interaction within a single-site approximation. The electric current was then obtained by solving the Lippmann-Schwinger equation. Experimental results indicated that increases in temperature dependence correlated with the strength of the Coulomb interaction.