This letter presents experimental evidence that the electrical conductance of a single molecule can be altered by a chemical binding event. Self-assembled monolayers of electron donor tetramethyl xylyl dithiol (TMXYL) have been synthesized and chemically switched to a conducting state by reaction with an electron acceptor tetracyanoethylene (TCNE). Low bias conductance measurements obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions show a change from insulating to ohmic behavior as a result of the electron donor/acceptor interaction.
Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of dodecanethiol (DDT), octadecanethiol (ODT), and resorcinarene C10 tetrasulfide (RC10TS) on Au(111) were characterized by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) under ultrahigh vacuum conditions and evaluated as ultrathin resists. A voltage division factor η was used to parametrize the equilibrium Fermi energy level E f in terms of an applied voltage bias. Nominally symmetric tunneling (η ∼ 0.5) conditions were established by acquiring conductance spectra over a range of set point voltages. The electrical conductivity of the monolayers was observed to be dependent on both the monolayer thickness and the nature of the Au/S bonding. Leakage current densities across DDT and RC10TS SAMs on Au were estimated, with the latter comparing favorably with a 1.5-nm layer of SiO 2 on Si.
Heterodimeric electon-donor/electron-acceptor charge-transfer complexes chemisorbed onto Au(111) by attachment of the electron-donor to the surface have been characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy and Kelvin probe experiments. Conductance measurements exhibit nearly Ohmic I(V) responses at low bias. The electrical properties of the charge-transfer complex are vastly different than those of the electron-donor alone which exhibits insulating behavior at low bias. In an extension of this work, strategies are being developed for attachment of chargetransfer complexes to semiconducting or insulating surfaces. Fabrication of nanoscale molecular electronic devices is being investigated by attaching one component of a charge-transfer complex to a silicon surface by chemically directed self-assembly. The single component-functionalized surface is then used as a substrate on which the second component of the charge-transfer complex is deposited by the atomic force microscopy method, dip-pen nanolithography (DPN). Derivatives of hexamethylbenze (electron-donor) with terminal olefins attached to crystalline silicon surfaces via hydrosilylation form monolayer-functionalized silicon surfaces that are expected to have insulating properties. Welldefined features can be "drawn" onto the donor-functionalized surfaces by DPN using tetracyanoethylene (electronacceptor) as the "ink." The resulting charge-transfer complex nanostructures have conducting properties suitable for device function and are flanked by an insulating monolayer, thus creating "wires" made from charge-transfer complexes.
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