Invention and Development of the Atomic
Switch
Kazuya Terabe, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Tomonobu Nakayama,
and Masakazu Aono
Abstract Our invention of atomic switches with novel operating principles, using
movement of atoms (ions) within solids, are serendipitous in a sense. In earlier study,
we were trying to work on an experiment where atoms were arranged into lines in
order to draw on a substrate by generating high electric field at an apex of a scanning
tunneling microscope’s (STM) tip made of an electron and metal-ion mixed conductor material, and depositing metal atoms one by one from the tip. In doing so,
without forethought, we found that by controlling the voltage applied to the STM tip,
a protrusion at that apex, consisting of a small number of metallic atoms, could be
reversibly grown and shrunk. We immediately came up with the idea of using these
reversible processes for atomic-scale electrical switching. Thereafter, we have created the atomic switches, and found various unique physical properties such as
quantized conductance, and valuable functions such as logic-gate operation in
developed atomic switches.
1 Introduction
Since a great number of electronics switch devices typified by semiconductor
transistors are used in the information and communications equipment, upgrading
of that equipment largely depends on improving performance of transistors, which
are operated by controlling the migration of electrons within semiconductors.
Though semiconductor transistors have seen remarkable progress with technological
development in miniaturization and integration, it is currently feared that the progress is beginning to slow. Thus, it is becoming important to create switch devices
that operate on a completely new set of principles, together with further development
K. Terabe (*) · T. Nakayama · M. Aono
International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials
Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
e-mail: terabe.kazuya@nims.go.jp
T. Hasegawa
Department of Applied Physics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. Aono (ed.), Atomic Switch, Advances in Atom and Single Molecule Machines,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34875-5_1
1
Switch
Kazuya Terabe, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Tomonobu Nakayama,
and Masakazu Aono
Abstract Our invention of atomic switches with novel operating principles, using
movement of atoms (ions) within solids, are serendipitous in a sense. In earlier study,
we were trying to work on an experiment where atoms were arranged into lines in
order to draw on a substrate by generating high electric field at an apex of a scanning
tunneling microscope’s (STM) tip made of an electron and metal-ion mixed conductor material, and depositing metal atoms one by one from the tip. In doing so,
without forethought, we found that by controlling the voltage applied to the STM tip,
a protrusion at that apex, consisting of a small number of metallic atoms, could be
reversibly grown and shrunk. We immediately came up with the idea of using these
reversible processes for atomic-scale electrical switching. Thereafter, we have created the atomic switches, and found various unique physical properties such as
quantized conductance, and valuable functions such as logic-gate operation in
developed atomic switches.
1 Introduction
Since a great number of electronics switch devices typified by semiconductor
transistors are used in the information and communications equipment, upgrading
of that equipment largely depends on improving performance of transistors, which
are operated by controlling the migration of electrons within semiconductors.
Though semiconductor transistors have seen remarkable progress with technological
development in miniaturization and integration, it is currently feared that the progress is beginning to slow. Thus, it is becoming important to create switch devices
that operate on a completely new set of principles, together with further development
K. Terabe (*) · T. Nakayama · M. Aono
International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials
Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
e-mail: terabe.kazuya@nims.go.jp
T. Hasegawa
Department of Applied Physics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. Aono (ed.), Atomic Switch, Advances in Atom and Single Molecule Machines,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34875-5_1
1