Mechanically Controllable Break Junctions for Molecular Electronics

Dong, Xiaopeng; Jeong, Hyunhak; Lee, Takhee; Mayer, Dirk

doi:10.1002/adma.201301589

Cited by 202 publications

(171 citation statements)

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“…[15][16][17] Here, we study atomic contacts of Pt fabricated using the break junction technique. 18,19 Pt films for break junctions were deposited using e-beam evaporation from targets containing less than 1 ppm magnetic impurities. The devices were fabricated via lift-off from e-beam patterned PMMA/MMA bilayers on flexible kapton substrates, with overhanging generated via reactive ion etching (see SI section 1 for more details).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unexpected Magnetic Properties of Gas-Stabilized Platinum Nanostructures in the Tunneling Regime

et al. 2014

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International audienceNanostructured materials often have properties widely different from bulk, imposed by quantum limits to a physical property of the material. This includes, for example, superparamagnetism and quantized conductance, but original properties such as magnetoresistance in nonmagnetic molecular structures may also emerge. In this Letter, we report on the atomic manipulation of platinum nanocontacts in order to induce magnetoresistance. Platinum is a paramagnetic 5d metal, but atomic chains of this material have been predicted to be magnetically ordered with a large anisotropy. Remarkably, we find that a gas flow stabilizes Pt atomic structures in a break junction experiment, where we observe extraordinary resistance changes over 30 000% in a temperature range up to 77 K. Simulations indicate that this behavior may stem from a previously unknown magnetically ordered, low-energy state in platinum oxide atomic chains. This is supported by measurements in Pt/ PtOx superlattices revealing the presence of a ferromagnetic moment. These properties open new paths of research for atomic scale " dirty " magnetic sensors and quantum devices

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confidence: 99%

Unexpected Magnetic Properties of Gas-Stabilized Platinum Nanostructures in the Tunneling Regime

et al. 2014

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“…3 In planar nanogap junctions an insulating spacer is produced by a poorly reproducible and low yield electromigration step which is accomplished with expensive nanofabrication tools. 21,39 Mechanically controllable break-junction devices, requiring controlled bending of a sample to open and close nanoscale gap, 21,40,41 is limited in scope with regards to the selection of materials, ease of fabrication and commercialization.…”

Section: Molecules Serve As a Device Element Not As A Physical Barriermentioning

confidence: 99%

Advantages of Prefabricated Tunnel Junction-Based Molecular Spintronics Devices

Tyagi

Friebe

Baker

2015

NANO

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Molecule-based devices may govern the advancement of the next generation's logic and memory devices. Molecules have the potential to be unmatched device elements as chemists can mass produce an endless variety of molecules with novel optical, magnetic and charge transport characteristics. However, the biggest challenge is to connect two metal leads to a target molecule (s) and develop a robust and versatile device fabrication technology that can be adopted for commercial scale mass production. This paper discusses distinct advantages of utilizing commercially successful tunnel junctions as a vehicle for developing molecular spintronics devices. We describe the use of a prefabricated tunnel junction with the exposed sides as a testbed for molecular device fabrication. On the exposed sides of a tunnel junction molecules are bridged across an insulator by chemically bonding with the two metal electrodes; sequential growth of metal-insulator-metal layers ensures that separation between two metal electrodes is controlled by the insulator thickness to the molecular device length scale. This paper highlights various attributes of tunnel junction-based molecular devices with ferromagnetic electrodes for making molecular spintronics devices. We strongly emphasize a need for close collaboration between chemists and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) researchers. Such partnerships will have a strong potential to develop tunnel junction-based molecular devices for futuristic areas such as memory devices, magnetic metamaterials, high sensitivity multi-chemical biosensors, etc.

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“…Accurately producing sub-5 nm wide gaps requires a patterning resolution of a few atomic layers, which is a great technological challenge even if only a few devices are to be realized 12 . Existing nanogap fabrication techniques include mask-defined etching processes 13 , layer-defined sacrificial etching processes 14 , material-growth processes 1,15 , self-assembly processes 7,16 , and the break junction (BJ) technique [17][18][19] . Each of these approaches suffers from severe drawbacks, including limited process control, limited dimensional accuracy, limited process scalability and risk of residual contaminants inside the nanogaps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of crack-junctions

2017

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Nanogap electrodes consist of pairs of electrically conducting tips that exhibit nanoscale gaps. They are building blocks for a variety of applications in quantum electronics, nanophotonics, plasmonics, nanopore sequencing, molecular electronics, and molecular sensing. Crack-junctions (CJs) constitute a new class of nanogap electrodes that are formed by controlled fracture of suspended bridge structures fabricated in an electrically conducting thin film under residual tensile stress. Key advantages of the CJ methodology over alternative technologies are that CJs can be fabricated with wafer-scale processes, and that the width of each individual nanogap can be precisely controlled in a range from o 2 to 4100 nm. While the realization of CJs has been demonstrated in initial experiments, the impact of the different design parameters on the resulting CJs has not yet been studied. Here we investigate the influence of design parameters such as the dimensions and shape of the notches, the length of the electrode-bridge and the design of the anchors, on the formation and propagation of cracks and on the resulting features of the CJs. We verify that the design criteria yields accurate prediction of crack formation in electrode-bridges featuring a beam width of 280 nm and beam lengths ranging from 1 to 1.8 μm. We further present design as well as experimental guidelines for the fabrication of CJs and propose an approach to initiate crack formation after release etching of the suspended electrode-bridge, thereby enabling the realization of CJs with pristine electrode surfaces.

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Mechanically Controllable Break Junctions for Molecular Electronics

Cited by 202 publications

References 238 publications

Unexpected Magnetic Properties of Gas-Stabilized Platinum Nanostructures in the Tunneling Regime

Unexpected Magnetic Properties of Gas-Stabilized Platinum Nanostructures in the Tunneling Regime

Advantages of Prefabricated Tunnel Junction-Based Molecular Spintronics Devices

Design and fabrication of crack-junctions

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