Electrons & Nuclei in Tiny Wires

However, experiments carried out on one-atom-thick wires by our collaborators in Leiden showed that the wires were breaking at low bias. This bias was too small for localised Ohmic heating to be the cause of the breakdown. Years earlier it was proposed by Sorbello that the current-induced force experienced by an atom in a conductor could be nonconservative.

That is, around closed paths, net work could be done on the nuclei. After a series of revolutions, the nucleus can pick up enough kinetic energy to change its position within the wire resulting in instabilities. This thesis involves a marriage between theory and simulation to take forward our present understanding, the role the electron wind force plays in electromigration in both the time independent and dependent case. <br><br>