The interplay between Arrhenius and hopping conduction mechanisms in a percolating nanowire network

Abstract: This study investigates the influence of different transport mechanisms on the conductance/resistance of devices based on percolating networks of semiconducting nanowires. We simulated systems such as random resistor networks where both Arrhenius and variable-range hopping mechanisms take place at the same time, and compared the results with experimental ones. Our assumption was that each mechanism represents only a fraction of the nanowires in the system and that the network resistance is given by the direct sum of the contribution of the mechanisms. An unexpected behavior observed in the experimental measurements led us to propose this approach, and the numerical results found in our simulations suggest that this model can explain the experiment.

Author(s): Melzi, ALR; Chiquito, AJ.

JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS

DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/49/31/315303