Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 35: Postersession Transport: Nanoelectronics, Quantum Coherence and Quantum Information, Fluctuations and Noise

TT 35.23: Poster

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 14:00–18:00, P1A

Molecular Switches in Break Junction Metal-Molecule-Metal Contacts — •Bernd Briechle¹, Thomas Kirchner¹, Uta Eberlein¹, Simon Verleger¹, Marcel Mayor², Alfred Blaszczyk², Thomas Huhn³, Jannic Wolf³, Dima Sysoiev³, Elke Scheer¹, and Artur Erbe¹ — ¹FB Physik, Universität Konstanz, Germany — ²Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut für Nanotechnologie, 76021 Karlsruhe — ³FB Chemie, Universität Konstanz, Germany

Metal-molecule-metal contacts are established using the Mechanically Controllable Break Junction (MCBJ) technique at room temperature in a toluene solution. We investigate short oligo phenylene ethynylenes (OPE) with various nitrogen-based end groups as well as different thiol-terminated molecular switches. Analysis is based on statistics of conductance traces recorded during opening and closing the junction, and on current-voltage characteristics taken at a constant electrode distance. We show that the latter can be described by a simple transport model involving a single broadened molecular orbital. The molecular switches exhibit a pronounced hysteretic switching behavior when the bias voltage exceeds a certain value (≈ 0.4V).