Copper Nanowires through Oriented Mesoporous Silica: A Step towards Protected and Parallel Atomic Switches.

The formation of copper atomic contacts has been investigated. Copper nanowires were grown by electrochemical deposition, in the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) configuration, from a platinum microelectrode to an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate. Self-termination leaves copper filaments between the two electrodes with an atomic point contact at the ITO electrode. Histogram analysis shows that the conductance of this contact is close to, or less than, 1 G. Atomic contacts were also fabricated on ITO electrodes covered with vertically-aligned mesoporous silica films. Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy images show that copper filaments occupy individual isolated nanopores. Contacts generated on bare ITO break down rapidly in sodium salicylate, whereas those generated in ITO/nanopores are unaffected; the nanopores protect the copper filaments. Finally, atomic switch behaviour was obtained using these ITO and ITO/nanopores electrodes.