Electromigration in self-organized single-crystalline silver nanowires

We present electromigration experiments on single-crystalline silver nanowires. The wires were grown on 4 degrees vicinal silicon (100) substrates by self-organization and were contacted by electron beam lithography. The electromigration experiments were performed in situ in a scanning electron microscope at room temperature with constant dc conditions. In contrast to other experiments we observe void formation at the anode side of the wires. If the current is reversed, the electromigration behavior is also reversed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.