Measurements of Electrical Conductance in Nanostructures and Their Use in Nanotechnology

In the chapter, problems of measurements of electrical conductance in nanostructures, particularly in nanowires, are considered. According to the Landauer theory of electrical conductance, the conductance of nanostructure is quantized. The electrical conductance of nanowires was measured in a simple experimental system. Investigations have been performed in air at room temperature measuring the conductance between two vibrating metal wires with standard oscilloscope. Conductance quantization in units of G0 = 2e2/h up to five quanta of conductance has been observed for nanowires formed in many metals. The explanation of these universal phenomena is the formation of a nanometer-sized wire (nanowire) between macroscopic metallic contacts which induced, due to theory proposed by Landauer, the quantization of conductance. Estimation of geometrical dimensions of nanostructures on basis of measurements of their electrical conductance is proposed in this paper.