文摘
We report a single oxygen atomic sensor based on a scanning tunneling microscope break-junction (STM-BJ) technique by using silver electrodes at room temperature. The oxygen concentration was adjusted with argon gas in a glove box. An oxygen atom was inserted in the gap of the Ag electrodes after the Ag metal point contact had been ruptured during stretching of the Ag atomic junctions by moving a piezo. We successfully measured the conductance of a single oxygen atom by forming a series with the Ag contact, Ag-O-Ag bond. We found that the probability of Ag-O-Ag junction formation increased with increasing oxygen concentration. Furthermore, we observed that the peak height in the oxygen conductance histogram was changed reversibly depending on the oxygen concentration in a glove box. It confirms that our STM-BJ can be used for atomic sensor applications in the future. Keywords Oxygen Ag electrode Scanning tunneling microscope break-junction Conductance histogram Sensor