This paper shows that conductance quantization at room temperature is a physical and reliable observation. This is demonstrated by conductance histograms taking all (12 000) consecutive nanowire conductance experiments in Au at room temperature. On the other hand, conductance curves in Ni, a room-temperature ferromagnet, show staircase-quantized behavior, but the histograms do not show quantized peaks, most probably due to the lifting of the spin degeneracy.

• Received 14 November 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.55.R4875