Metallic wires on the nanometer scale: fabrication and electronic transport

Gold wires are fabricated on the nanometer scale with a novel atomic force microscope (AFM) lithography technique using gold-coated piezo-resistive cantilevers. This method enables precise shape control of the wires and could be a powerful tool for the fabrication and investigation of new structures and devices. We present initial electronic transport measurements and give a perspective on future investigations which will be done on systems containing magnetic dots coupled with nanowires in order to develop new spintronic devices.