Abstract

Conductive-atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to investigate time-dependent electrical contact resistance (ECR) at the nanoscale. ECR is shown to decrease over time as measured using C-AFM and estimated using two approaches from MD simulations, although the experiments and simulations explore different time scales. The simulations show that time dependence of ECR is attributable to an increase in real contact area due to atoms diffusing into the contact. This diffusion-based aging is found to be a thermally activated process that depends on the local contact pressure. The results demonstrate that contact aging, previously identified as an important mechanism for friction, can significantly affect electrical conduction at the nanoscale.

Graphical Abstract

中文翻译：

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纳米级随时间变化的电接触电阻

摘要

导电原子力显微镜（C-AFM）和分子动力学（MD）模拟用于研究纳米级随时间变化的电接触电阻（ECR）。使用C-AFM测量并使用MD模拟的两种方法估计ECR会随着时间的推移而降低，尽管实验和模拟探索的是不同的时间尺度。仿真表明，由于原子扩散到接触中，实际接触面积的增加可归因于ECR的时间依赖性。发现基于扩散的老化是取决于局部接触压力的热活化过程。结果表明，接触老化，以前被认为是摩擦的重要机制，可以显着影响纳米级的导电。

图形概要