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Scanning tunnelling microscopy

Closing in on molecular junctions

Nature Nanotechnology volume 6, pages 7–8 (2011)Cite this article

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Contacts between a single molecule and a metal electrode can be good or bad depending on the number of metal atoms that are in direct contact with the molecule.

Organic chemists have been extremely successful in synthesizing and characterizing molecules in large quantities, and the results of this can be found in countless practical applications, ranging from pharmaceuticals to plastic bottles. Solid-state physicists, on the other hand, have made tremendous progress in understanding and controlling electron transport through solid materials, and modern semiconductor chips now contain billions of active components. Combining these seemingly different fields could lead to even more applications because using molecules as the active elements in electronic devices would allow greater numbers of components to be packed into a given area. An obvious question facing those working at the crossroads of these two fields is: how does electric charge flow through a single molecule? However, this seemingly simple question is surprisingly hard to answer1.

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Figure 1: Comparing the size of a C60 molecule to electrical contacts.

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  1. Andreas Heinrich is in the IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California 95120, USA. heinrich@almaden.ibm.com,

    Andreas Heinrich

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  1. Andreas Heinrich
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Heinrich, A. Closing in on molecular junctions. Nature Nanotech 6, 7–8 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.266

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