Fig. 1 | Nature Communications

Fig. 1

From: Massively parallel fabrication of crack-defined gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps for molecular devices

Fig. 1

Schematics of the proposed methodology to form crack-defined break junctions. a A pre-stressed notched titanium nitride (TiN) bridge structure coated with a thin layer of gold is patterned; b the release-etching of the bridge structure induces the formation of a crack in TiN. c The formed TiN cantilevers retract and pull apart the section of gold located above the crack-line. d The pulling action w, defined by the length L of the bridge, causes necking of the ductile gold; for a sufficiently large w, the gold breaks, thereby forming a nanogap with an inter-electrode separation d

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