Accurate electrical testing of individual gold nanowires by in situ scanning electron microscope nanomanipulators

This work presents an accurate measurement of electrical properties of individual gold nanowires, directly measured by nanomanipulators in situ in a scanning electron microscope. The electrical testing of 55 nm width gold nanowires, with a bamboo-type polycrystalline micorstructure, shows that individual gold nanowires have an ideal resistivity of about 2.26 μΩ cm and remarkably high failure current density of 4.94×10⁸ A cm^-2. The measurement of resistance (R) versus nanowire length of individual nanowires shows that the intrinsic conductivity of the gold nanowire is 4.45×10⁷ Ω^-1 m^-1. There is no evidence that the polycrystalline grain structure, 55 nm width and 500–2800 nm length, generates any size-induced electrical effects. The accurate electrical testing of gold nanowires should be significant for nanodevices and nanoelectronics using them as building blocks or interconnects.