Berlin 2005 – scientific programme
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TT: Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 33: Transport - Nanoelectronics III: Molecular Electronics
TT 33.1: Talk
Tuesday, March 8, 2005, 14:00–14:15, TU H3027
A single-molecule diode — •Heiko B. Weber1,2, Rolf Ochs1, Mark Elbing1, Marcel Mayor1, Max Köntopp1, and Ferdinand Evers1 — 1Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut für Nanotechnologie, Postfach 3640, D-76021 Karlsruhe — 2Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Erlangen, Staudtstr. 7, 91058 Erlangen
We have designed and synthesized an organic molecule such that it can be used as a diode on the single-molecule level. Individual molecules were contacted employing the mechanically controlled break junction technique. The results show indeed diode-like current-voltage characteristics. In contrast to that, control experiments with similar symmetric molecules did not show significant asymmetries in the transport properties. In order to investigate the underlying transport mechanism, phenomenological arguments are combined with calculations based on density functional theory. It turns out that the physics responsible for the asymmetry has several analogies to that in a p-n semiconductor diode.