Quantized Electrical Conductance of Gold Helical Multishell Nanowires

The conductance of helical multishell (HMS) gold nanowires was measured while simultaneously examining their structure using an ultrahigh-vacuum transmission electron microscope. It was found that thinning successively yielded 15-8-1, 14-7-1, 13-6, 12-5, and 11-4 HMS nanowires. The conductance of these nanowires was independent of their length. Conductance varied with the position of contact between the chiral nanowire and the crystalline electrode so that each nanowire had more than two conductance values. The channel transmissions were reduced at the nanowire-electrode contact. The observed conductance values for electrode-suspended chiral nanowires were compared with recent theoretical values.