Maxwell and Sharvin conductance in gold point contacts investigated using TEM-STM

We have investigated the conductance of gold point contacts using a scanning tunneling microscope ~STM! inside a transmission electron microscope ~TEM!. Measuring the conductance of these point contacts as a function of radius, we could directly compare it with theories both in the ballistic regime ~Sharvin! as well as in the diffusive regime ~Maxwell!. The width of the contacts were between a single atom and 20 nm. Using an interpolation formula ~Wexler! between the two limits, we obtain a mean free path of 4 nm, which is about ten times shorter than the room-temperature bulk value. The low value indicates an enhanced scattering, which is not due to high temperature in the point contact, i…