I–V characteristics of a vertical single Ni nanowire by voltage-applied atomic force microscopy

We report the measurement of the electrical resistivity of a vertical single Ni nanowire. A vertical array of Ni nanowires was fabricated on a Si substrate by electrodeposition using a nanoporous alumina template. The Ni nanowires possessed a face-centered-cubic polycrystalline structure. A voltage-applied atomic force microscope was used to make a nanometer-scale point contact on top of the vertical grown single Ni nanowire. The measured resistance was 1.1 MΩ for a nanowire with length of 3 μm and diameter of 20 nm.