title: Conductance statistics from a large array of sub-10 nm molecular junctions.
abstract: Devices made of few molecules constitute the miniaturization limit that both inorganic and organic-based electronics aspire to reach. However, integration of millions of molecular junctions with less than 100 molecules each has been a long technological challenge requiring well controlled nanometric electrodes. Here we report molecular junctions fabricated on a large array of sub-10 nm single crystal Au nanodots electrodes, a new approach that allows us to measure the conductance of up to a million of junctions in a single conducting atomic force microscope (C-AFM) image. We observe two peaks of conductance for alkylthiol molecules. Tunneling decay constant (β) for alkanethiols, is in the same range as previous studies. Energy position of molecular orbitals, obtained by transient voltage spectroscopy, varies from peak to peak, in correlation with conductance values.
authors.affiliation: IEMN-CNRS , avenue Poincaré, Cité scientifique, Villeneuve d'Ascq, 59652, France. kacem.smaali@iemn.univ-lille1.fr
authors.forename: Kacem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smaali
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Clément
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Patriarche
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vuillaume
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008839:Microelectrodes; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010316:Particle Size
chemical_list: D006046:Gold