Local heating in noble metal nanocontacts under high biases at 77 K

Effects of local heating of noble metal nanocontacts under high biases at 77 K are investigated by measuring the bias dependence of the two-level fluctuation (TLF) frequency of the contact conductance. The TLF frequency increases exponentially in a bias range from 0.2 to 0.6 V for Au and Cu nanocontacts. This result indicates that the effective contact temperature of these contacts remains unchanged up to 0.6 V, in accordance with the theoretical prediction by Todorov et al. [T.N. Todorov, J. Hoekstra, A.P. Sutton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 3606]. In contrast, the TLF frequency of Ag nanocontacts starts to increase more rapidly above 0.45 V than that of Au and Cu nanocontacts. The steep rise in the TLF frequency is possibly attributed to a poor heat transfer to the bulk part of the contact and a resulting rapid increase in the effective temperature.