High-Yield Functional Molecular Electronic Devices

Abstract

An ultimate goal of molecular electronics, which seeks to incorporate molecular components into electronic circuit units, is to generate functional molecular electronic devices using individual or ensemble molecules to fulfill the increasing technical demands of the miniaturization of traditional silicon-based electronics. This review article presents a summary of recent efforts to pursue this ultimate aim, covering the development of reliable device platforms for high-yield ensemble molecular junctions and their utilization in functional molecular electronic devices, in which distinctive electronic functionalities are observed due to the functional molecules. In addition, other aspects pertaining to the practical application of molecular devices such as manufacturing compatibility with existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, their integration, and flexible device applications are also discussed. These advances may contribute to a deeper understanding of charge transport characteristics through functional molecular junctions and provide a desirable roadmap for future practical molecular electronics applications.

Rotational switches in the two-dimensional fullerene quasicrystal

“…One of the key challenges in molecular electronics design is the stability of molecular states that are generally triggered from an 'on state' to an 'off state' or vice versa by application of an optical, magnetic or electric pulse (Zhang et al, 2015;Jeong et al, 2017). One way to achieve this goal is to use intrinsically bistable molecules which can be employed as switching units without major changes in their dimensions or electronic properties.…”

Two‐Terminal Molecular Memory through Reversible Switching of Quantum Interference Features in Tunneling Junctions

“…In π‐conjugated molecules, they are generally ascribed to cross‐conjugation,4, 5, 6, 7 meta ‐substitution,8,9 or particular spatial arrangements 10,11. Of particular interest are systems capable of toggling QI effects through external inputs;12, 13, 14 however, control over QI effects is currently limited to transient, single‐molecule junctions and/or comparisons of different compounds in different environments,15, 16, 17 for example, the ex operando (electro)chemical interconversion between a cross‐conjugated quinone and linearly conjugated hydroquinone 18,19. Herein we show that self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) of a cross‐conjugated compound incorporating a tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) unit, TCNAQ (Figure 1), on different metal substrates can be switched between, and addressed in, two conductance states (ON and OFF) in a two‐terminal proto‐device using eutectic Ga–In (EGaIn) top contacts.…”

Triazatriangulene platform for self-assembled monolayers of free-standing diarylethene

“…Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have been widely studied for fabricating large-area molecular junctions [23,24], which provide more reproducible and robust devices than single-molecule junctions [25,26]. Thiols have been the most widely used binding groups which result in the formation of densely packed monolayers [27].…”