| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5424349 | Surface Science | 2010 | 7 Pages |
We study the influence of energy levels broadening and electron subsystem overheating in island electrode (cluster) on current-voltage characteristics of three-electrode structure. A calculation scheme for broadening effect in one-dimensional case is suggested. Estimation of broadening is performed for electron levels in disc-like and spherical gold clusters. Within the two-temperature model of metallic cluster and by using a size dependence of the Debye frequency the effective electron temperature as a function of bias voltage is found approximately. For helium temperature of ion subsystem, the heating temperature of electrons in a quantum disc is almost one order of magnitude higher than that in a sphere; it achieves thousands of Kelvin. We suggest that the effects of broadening and electron overheating are responsible for the smoothing of current-voltage curves, which is observed experimentally at low temperatures in structures based on clusters consisting of accountable number of atoms. However, a role of the broadening is much more significant.
