title: Probing the different stages in contacting a single molecular wire.
abstract: A crucial problem in molecular electronics is the control of the electronic contact between a molecule and its electrodes. As a model system, we investigated the contact between the molecular wire group of a C90H98 (Lander) molecule and the edge of a Cu(111) monatomic step. The reproducible contact and decontact of the wire was obtained by manipulating the Lander with a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The electronic standing wave patterns on the Cu(111) surface serve to monitor the local electronic perturbation caused by the interaction of the wire end with the step edge, giving information on the quality of the contact.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moresco
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: Micol
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alemani
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Rieder
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gourdon
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Joachim