Charge-state assignment of nanoscale single-electron transistors from their current–voltage characteristics

Abstract

The charge state of a single-molecule transistor can be determined at liquid nitrogen temperatures by simply observing the IV characteristics.

Understanding resonant charge transport through weakly coupled single-molecule junctions

“…Therefore, in what follows, the overall spectral density in equation 5 comprises all molecular vibrational modes as well as a broad background, J bg ( ω ), which phenomenologically accounts for the dielectric substrate:The frequencies and coupling strengths of the molecular modes were calculated using DFT and correspond to an inner-sphere reorganisation energy of of 67 meV for the N–1 / N transition (see Supplementary Note 3 for details of the calculation). The N–1 / N transition is considered the most likely assignment as the closest transition to the Fermi level of the electrodes, and confirmed by observation of the highest current corner 9 . The background is again modelled as a structureless super-Ohmic spectral density.…”

“…Our assignments of the charge states are confirmed by observing the high-current corner of each transition. 9 Inside the sequential tunnelling region, we observe lines of increased conductance (Fig. 1c), which are spaced equally apart.…”

“…the N −1/ N transition) the opposite is the case: only electrons of the opposite spin to that on the molecule can reduce the molecule, but electrons of either spin can subsequently tunnel out from the molecule into the leads. When only a single spin-degenerate level is involved in transport then the number of possible transitions is accounted for by setting Ω to 0 for the N / N +1 transition or 1 for the N −1/ N transition, as discussed in Supplementary Note 2 and in detail elsewhere 9 . Finally, k red/ox denote the molecular densities of states (DOS) associated with the corresponding electron transfers.…”

A review of oligo(arylene ethynylene) derivatives in molecular junctions

“…In general, they rely on the fabrication of devices in which two electrodes are separated by a nanoscale distance. Electrode materials can include gold, 71 silicon, 72 graphene [73][74][75] and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). 76,77 When exposed to a solution of a molecular wire of suitable length, it is possible for the gap to be bridged by one or more molecules which bind to both sides.…”

Kondo-assisted switching between three conduction states in capacitively coupled quantum dots

“…Kondo physics has since been observed in a large variety of nanoscale devices, ranging from the original GaAs/AlGaAs [6] and Si/SiGe [7] heterostructures to more exotic devices involving single-molecule junctions [8][9][10][11] or carbon nanotubes [12]. The sharpness of the concomitant zero-bias or Abrikosov-Suhl-Kondo resonance in the differential conductance [6][7][8][12][13][14][15] offers an attractive way to implement highly sensitive switching properties on which, e.g., future molecular electronics might depend [16,17].…”