Charge Transport, Plasmon Properties in the Infrared and Thermal Stability of Metal Nanowires

金属纳米线（MNW）中自由电子的传输对微电子应用很有兴趣，因为热的电阻产生会消耗电能，并可能在未来的集成电路架构中导致过热。任何MNW互连工程都需要对温度、尺寸和晶体结构对电荷输运的影响有专门的了解。我们希望通过进行红外光谱实验来产生这种特定的知识。金属纳米粒子中自由载流子的共振激发在技术和生命科学中有着广泛的应用。几微米长的MNW应该在红外范围内显示出等离子体共振。这些共振有望在不久的将来应用于位置敏感振动光谱学，并为MNW的剪裁和计量提供途径。我们的目标是在红外范围内提供MNW等离子体激元的实验证据，并演示如何调整这些等离子体激元的清晰度和频率以实现MNW的特定功能化。MNW的热不稳定性具有很高的技术相关性。它可能会导致器件故障，但另一方面，它可以用于纳米结构裁剪。我们打算研究这些不稳定性在不同条件下的时间和温度依赖性，为它们的控制利用开辟途径。

The transport of free electrons in metal nanowires (MNW) is of interest for microelectronic applications as the resistive generation of heat consumes electrical energy and can cause overheating in future integrated-circuit architectures. Any engineering of MNW interconnects needs specific knowledge on the influence of temperature, size and crystalline structure on the charge transport. We want to generate such specific knowledge by performing infrared-spectroscopic experiments. Resonant excitation of free charge carriers in metal nanoparticles has numerous applications in technology and life science. MNW of few micron lengths should show plasmon resonances in the infrared range. These resonances promise near-future applications in position-sensitive vibrational spectroscopy and a pathway to a tailoring and a metrology of MNW. We aim at giving experimental evidence for MNW plasmons in the infrared range and at a demonstation how sharpness and frequency of these plasmons can be adjusted for a specific functionalization of MNW. A thermal instability of a MNW is of high technological relevance. It can cause device failure, but on the other hand, it can be utilized for a nanostructure tailoring. We intend to investigate the time and temperature dependence of such instabilities under various conditions to open pathways for their controlled utilization.