This comprehensive book covers the major advances with the most general applicability in the field of molecular electronic devices. It emphasizes new insights into the development of efficient platform methodologies for building such reliable devices with desired functionalities through the combination of programmed bottom-up self-assembly and sophisticated top-down device fabrication. It also helps to develop an understanding of the device fabrication processes and the characteristics of the resulting electrode-molecule interface.

Beginning with an introduction to the subject, Molecular-Scale Electronics: Concept, Fabrication and Applications offers full chapter coverage on topics such as: Metal Electrodes for Molecular Electronics; Carbon Electrodes for Molecular Electronics; Other Electrodes for Molecular Electronics; Novel Phenomena in Single-Molecule Junctions; and Supramolecular Interactions in Single-Molecule Junctions. Other chapters discuss Theoretical Aspects for Electron Transport through Molecular Junctions; Characterization Techniques for Molecular Electronics; and Integrating Molecular Functionalities into Electrical Circuits. The book finishes with a summary of the primary challenges facing the field and offers an outlook at its future.

Summarizes a number of different approaches for forming molecular-scale junctions and discusses various experimental techniques for examining these nanoscale circuits in detail
Gives overview of characterization techniques and theoretical simulations for molecular electronics
Highlights the major contributions and new concepts of integrating molecular functionalities into electrical circuits
Provides a critical discussion of limitations and main challenges that still exist for the development of molecular electronics
Suited for readers studying or doing research in the broad fields of Nano/molecular electronics and other device-related fields
Molecular-Scale Electronics is an excellent book for materials scientists, electrochemists, electronics engineers, physical chemists, polymer chemists, and solid-state chemists. It will also benefit physicists, semiconductor physicists, engineering scientists, and surface chemists.

Dong Xiang, PhD*, is a Professor in the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University. His current research interests focus on single molecule studies and optoelectronic molecular devices.*

Yu Li, PhD, is a research scientist in the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University, China. Her research interest includes single-molecule device physics and biophysics.

Auteur

Xuefeng Guo, PhD*, is a Professor at Peking University, China. His current research is focused on functional nanometer/molecular devices. Professor Guo has authored over 170 scientific publications and has received numerous scientific awards. Dong Xiang, PhD, is a Professor in the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University. His current research interests focus on single molecule studies and optoelectronic molecular devices. *Yu Li, PhD, is a research scientist in the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University, China. Her research interest includes single-molecule device physics and biophysics.

Échantillon de lecture
1
Introduction
What does the future hold for electronic devices? To what extent can their dimensions be reduced in the future? Forty years ago, the gate length of a transistor was approximately 10 mim; however, over the past few decades, traditional transistors have shrunk dramatically and now reach dimensions of about 3 nm in research devices [1, 2]. The further miniaturization of electronic devices remains extremely challenging, which is primarily due to either technique limitations or lack of fundamental understanding of transport mechanisms [3]. In this sense, it is remarkable that chemically identical molecules, with sizes on the order of 1 nm, can be synthesized in bulk while accomplishing a variety of electronic tasks, including conducting wire, rectification, memory, and switching; thus, they might have the potential to partly replace traditional solid-state device counterparts in the future. Comprehensive experimental findings in electron transport through individual molecules introduce the idea that beyond traditional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies, the ultimate goal for shrinking electrical circuits is the realization of molecular-scale/single-molecule electronics because single molecules constitute the smallest stable structures imaginable [4-7]. Molecular-scale electronics, which is the concept of creating functional electrical circuits based on properties inherent in individual or ensemble molecules, have several unparalleled advantages in comparison with silicon-based electronic devices. Firstly, the extremely reduced size of the molecules in order of 1 nm may enable heightened capacities and faster performances. Moreover, such small size of the molecule provides the ability to surpass the limit of conventional silicon circuit integration. Secondly, the abundant diversity in the molecular structures, which can be changed via flexible chemical designs, may lead to a direct observation of novel effects as well as the fundamental discovery of physical phenomena that are not accessible by using traditional materials or approaches. Thirdly, another attractive feature of this approach is the universal availability of molecules due to the ease of bulk synthesis, thus potentially leading to low-cost manufacturing.

In fact, molecular-scale electronics is currently a research area of focus because it not only meets the increasing technical demands of the miniaturization of traditional silicon-based electronic devices but also provides an ideal window of exploring the intrinsic properties of materials at the molecular level. Generally, molecular-scale electronics refers to the use of single molecules or nanoscale collections of single molecules as electronic components [2, 8-10]. The primary theme in this field is the construction, measurement, and understanding of the current-voltage responses of electrical circuits, in which molecular systems play an important role as pivotal elements [11]. Indeed, over the past decade, we observed significant developments achieved in both experiments and theory to reveal the electronic and photonic responses of these conceptually simple molecular junctions [5-12].

The history of molecular-scale electronics is surging forward with great momentum, and outstanding scientists have provided significant contributions to the development of molecular-sale electronics. Briefly, several pioneering studies were performed in the 1970s at the laboratory of Hans Kuhn along with Mann and coworkers [10, 13-15]. They developed the first effective self-assembly techniques (via molecular bond formation) to prepare molecular structures in which organic molecules adhered to solid substrate surfaces without using simple dispersion forces. Additionally, these groups reported a few of the earlie

Contenu

1 Introduction 1

References 4

2 Metal Electrodes for Molecular Electronics 7

2.1 Single-Molecule Junctions 7

2.1.1 Scanning Probe Microscopy Break Junctions 7

2.1.1.1 Beyond Traditional SPM Break Junctions 13

2.1.1.2 Applications of SPM Beyond Electron Transport 16

2.1.2 M…