Mesoscopic temporary devices: a multiple tip experiment on a silicon surface

A cantilever device with two gold coated silicon tips has been used to create two point contacts on a silicon surface. The lateral distance between the tips is 10 μm. The tips are independently movable in vertical direction and the contact force is defined. While the contacts are closed, a complete set of electrical characteristics of the system is measured. An Ohmic current and a field dependent current are found, so the system behaves like a FET. The measured set of curves was fit with a MESFET model. A weak coupling between the bulk material and the current carried through surface states is found.