title: Single-molecule electronics: from chemical design to functional devices.
abstract: The use of single molecules in electronics represents the next limit of miniaturisation of electronic devices, which would enable us to continue the trend of aggressive downscaling of silicon-based electronic devices. More significantly, the fabrication, understanding and control of fully functional circuits at the single-molecule level could also open up the possibility of using molecules as devices with novel, not-foreseen functionalities beyond complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology (CMOS). This review aims at highlighting the chemical design and synthesis of single molecule devices as well as their electrical and structural characterization, including a historical overview and the developments during the last 5 years. We discuss experimental techniques for fabrication of single-molecule junctions, the potential application of single-molecule junctions as molecular switches, and general physical phenomena in single-molecule electronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden. kasper.moth-poulsen@chalmers.se.
authors.forename: Lanlan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yuri A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Diaz-Fernandez
authors.forename: Tina A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Gschneidtner
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Westerlund
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lara-Avila
authors.forename: Kasper
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moth-Poulsen