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Dependency of the Tunneling Decay Coefficient in Molecular Tunneling Junctions on the Topography of the Bottom Electrodes
Author(s) -
Yuan Li,
Jiang Li,
Zhang Bo,
Nijhuis Christian A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201309506
Subject(s) - quantum tunnelling , grain boundary , electrode , monolayer , materials science , scanning tunneling microscope , condensed matter physics , self assembled monolayer , range (aeronautics) , nanotechnology , chemistry , optoelectronics , physics , metallurgy , composite material , microstructure
A controversy in molecular electronics is the unexplained large spread in values of the tunneling decay coefficient β in tunneling junctions with self‐assembled monolayers of n ‐alkanethiolates (SC n ). We show control of the β value over the range 0.4–1.0 n C −1 in junctions by changing the topography of the bottom electrodes that support the SAMs. Very low β values (0.4–0.5 n C −1 ) are obtained for rough surfaces with large areas of exposed grain boundaries, while β =1.0 n C −1 for smooth surfaces with small areas of exposed grain boundaries.