title: Measuring molecular junctions: what is the standard?
abstract: Accurate measurements of electronic properties of molecular junctions are important for both fundamental and practical applications. Often the molecule-electrode contacts are poorly characterized, leading to wide variation in the measured resistance values. A new paper in this issue demonstrates the use of a reference molecule as an internal standard to compensate for the varying conditions of the molecular contact in conductive-tip atomic force microscopy measurements and yields consistent resistances relative to the reference despite variations in absolute resistance.
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Oklahoma, 440 West Brooks Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-2061, USA. bumm@nhn.ou.edu
authors.forename: Lloyd A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Bumm
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances