Electrochemical fabrication of ultralow noise metallic nanowires with hcp crystalline lattice

We experimentally demonstrate that low-frequency electrical noise in silver nanowires is heavily suppressed when the crystal structure of the nanowires is hexagonal closed pack (hcp) rather than face centered cubic (fcc). Using a low-potential electrochemical method we have grown single crystalline silver nanowires with hcp crystal structure, in which the noise at room temperature is two to six orders of magnitude lower than that in the conventional fcc nanowires of the same diameter. We suggest that motion of dislocations is probably the primary source of electrical noise in metallic nanowires, which is strongly diminished in hcp crystals. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.