Electrical conductance in a single carbon nanofiber.

A microwave-plasma enhanced chemical-vapor-deposition (MPECVD) method was used to grow a solo multi-wall carbon nanofiber, which plays as a bridge across nickel electrodes that were separated by the photolithographic process. The length and diameter of carbon nanofiber are 3 microm and 100 nm, respectively. The single wire across the electrodes reveals a step current-voltage characteristic measured at high currents and low temperatures while shows a continuous behavior for multiple nanofibers. This stepwise conductance can be successfully dwelled by the quasi one-dimensional transport theory of conductors without considering the electron-phonon interaction at low temperatures and is expected to play a crucial role to determine the electrical behavior of these nanodevices.