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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 28: Transport - Poster Session

TT 28.12: Poster

Thursday, March 29, 2007, 14:00–17:45, Poster A

Mechanically variable contacts to alkane molecules — •Simon Verleger, Artur Erbe, and Elke Scheer — Universität Konstanz, FB Physik, Germany

Metal-molecule contacts using the mechanically controlled break junction method are demonstrated. The contacted molecules are alkane-dithiols. The thiol groups attached to each end ensure chemisorption of the molecules to the gold electrodes. Thus a mechanically stable contact is generated, which can then be tuned by varying the distance between the electrodes. All measurements are performed in a liquid cell containing the molecular solution. We observe clear features in the conductivity as a function of the electrode distance, which can be associated with the exact positioning of the molecules with respect to the electrodes. From this we conclude that we observe transport through a number of molecules. In future experiments this approach will be used to fabricate contacts to single molecules by using molecules with specific chemical properties.