Date Published:

JUN 23

Abstract:

Computed dc transport in compressed arrays of metallic quantum dots exhibits a voltage-induced phase transition at low temperatures. The transition is seen in the temperature dependence of the conductance at different voltages: from a variable hopping dependence at low voltage to an ohmic, activated behavior at higher voltages. The computations also exhibit the transition as a break in the current versus voltage plots at low temperatures where, at higher voltages, the plot is linear. At higher temperatures, the conductance is ohmic. A many-electron basis is used. The same transition is seen in the surface potential contours. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.