Universal approach to accurate resistivity measurement for a single nanowire: Theory and application

A universal four-contact method is proposed to accurately determine the resistivity of a single nanowire and other nanostructures. Unlike the conventional four-contact method or two-contact method, the present scheme does not require nonrectifying (Ohmic) contacts to the nanowire and can completely eliminate the systematic error resulting from the contact resistance or the resistance difference between the contacts. The present method has been applied to copper nanowire and can be used as a universal resistivity measurement scheme for all nanowires and other nanostructures.