Abstract
In principle, it is easy to perform a tunneling experiment. Imagine the simple DC circuit shown in Fig. 1, consisting of two parallel capacitor plates connected to a battery. There are also an ammeter, a voltmeter, and some resistors in the circuit so that we can measure the current through the capacitor and both measure and vary the voltage applied to the capacitor plates. Normally, we do not expect a DC current to flow between the capacitor plates; however, if the capacitor plates are spaced very close together (on the order of 50 Å),we find that a DC current is easily detectable with an ordinary ammeter, and we may get a current—voltage characteristic somewhat as shown in Fig. 1. The DC current flowing through the thin insulator between the capacitor plates is a tunneling current.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1969 Plenum Press
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Giaever, I. (1969). Metal-Insulator-Metal Tunneling. In: Burstein, E., Lundqvist, S. (eds) Tunneling Phenomena in Solids. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1752-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1752-4_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-1754-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-1752-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive