Swift heavy ions induced variation in the electronic transport through Cu nanowires

The primary outcome of radiation in a crystalline metallic medium is regarded as the creation of defects through destruction of lattice sites in the material and thus the radiation induced structural modifications may further be the source of deviation in their physical properties. A similar effect on the transport of charge carriers in Cu nanowires synthesized using track-etched membranes has been studied in the present work. The ion beams: Li3+ (50 MeV) and O7+ (100 MeV) were made incident on cylindrical Cu nanowires along their axis at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) at New Delhi, India. Observations indicate that I-V characteristics (IVC) of irradiated Cu nanowires are a blending of two different regions rather than linear IVC in the case of pristine Cu nanowires. The shape of IVC found to be dependent on the fluence and energy of the ions passing through the nanowires. It may be the consequence of chemical potential gradient and alteration in other granular properties of poly-crystalline Cu nanowires that could be held responsible for the variation in electrical conductivity of irradiated nanowires as compared to the pristine case.