Electronic conduction during the formation stages of a single-molecule junction

• Atindra Nath Pal,
• Tal Klein,
• Ayelet Vilan and
• Oren Tal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1471–1477, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.138

• scenarios of structural evolution from premature junction configurations towards the formation of a typical metal–molecule–metal junction, bringing to light the early steps of single-molecule junction formation. Experimental We use the mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) technique [3] to

Role of solvents in the electronic transport properties of single-molecule junctions

• Katharina Luka-Guth,
• Sebastian Hambsch,
• Andreas Bloch,
• Philipp Ehrenreich,
• Bernd Michael Briechle,
• Filip Kilibarda,
• Torsten Sendler,
• Dmytro Sysoiev,
• Thomas Huhn,
• Artur Erbe and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1055–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.99

• contacts, or even two fine tips when applying the mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) technique [26][27][28]. Also, when using planar electrodes, e.g., in the electromigration technique [29], the very ends show features with corrugations of atomic size. The typical voltage applied when

Thermo-voltage measurements of atomic contacts at low temperature

• Ayelet Ofarim,
• Bastian Kopp,
• Thomas Möller,
• León Martin,
• Johannes Boneberg,
• Paul Leiderer and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 767–775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.68

• atomic-sized gold contacts at low temperature. For these measurements a mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) system is used and a laser source generates a temperature difference of a few kelvins across the junction to create a thermo-voltage. Since the temperature difference enters directly

Probing the local environment of a single OPE3 molecule using inelastic tunneling electron spectroscopy

• Riccardo Frisenda,
• Mickael L. Perrin and
• Herre S. J. van der Zant

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2477–2484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.257

• electrodes when describing inelastic contributions to transport through single-molecule junctions. Keywords: current–voltage characteristics; DFT calculations; mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ); molecule–electrode interaction; vibrational modes; Introduction Vibrational degrees of freedom in

Evidence for non-conservative current-induced forces in the breaking of Au and Pt atomic chains

• Carlos Sabater,
• Carlos Untiedt and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2338–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.241

• the experimental techniques we refer to Smit et al. [10]. Briefly, the experiment is based on the formation of chains of metal atoms by the mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) technique [11][12]. As schematically illustrated in Figure 1 we start from a macroscopic metallic wire that is

Conductance through single biphenyl molecules: symmetric and asymmetric coupling to electrodes

• Karthiga Kanthasamy and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1690–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.171

• molecules while only a few experiments [6][25][26][27] have been done with molecules with asymmetric end groups and contacts. One technique widely used for studying transport through single or few molecules is the mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ), which can be used in different environments

Effect of the environment on the electrical conductance of the single benzene-1,4-diamine molecule junction

• Shigeto Nakashima,
• Yuuta Takahashi and
• Manabu Kiguchi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 755–759, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.83

• (single-molecule junction) have attracted much attention toward the realization of molecular scale electronics [1][2]. Electrical conductance of the single-molecule junction was investigated by means of mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ), scanning tunneling microscope (STM), and other

Charge transport in a zinc–porphyrin single-molecule junction

• Mickael L. Perrin,
• Christian A. Martin,
• Ferry Prins,
• Ahson J. Shaikh,
• Rienk Eelkema,
• Jan H. van Esch,
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek,
• Herre S. J. van der Zant and
• Diana Dulić

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 714–719, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.77

• )porphyrin) molecular junctions using the lithographic mechanically controllable break-junction (MCBJ) technique at room temperature and cryogenic temperature (6 K). We combined low-bias statistical measurements with spectroscopy of the molecular levels in the form of I(V) characteristics. This combination

• -bias and the high-bias regime. Porphyrins are interesting for this purpose as they are complex, non-rodlike molecules, which can form different stable conformations [7][8], especially when functionalized with metal-bound axial pyridine ligands [9]. Using the mechanically controllable break-junction

• controllable break-junction (MCBJ). Bottom: Scanning electron micrograph of a MCBJ device (colorized for clarity). The scale bar shows that the suspended bridge is about 1 µm in length. Trace histograms constructed from 500 consecutive breaking traces taken at room temperature and 100 mV bias for junctions