Coulomb Staircase at Room Temperature in a Self-Assembled Molecular Nanostructure

作者：Ronald P. Andres, Thomas Bein, Matt Dorogi, Sue Feng, Jason I. Henderson, Clifford P. Kubiak, W. Mahoney, Richard G. Osifchin, Ronald G. Reifenberger · 发表于：Science · 年份：1996 · DOI：10.1126/science.272.5266.1323 · 被引用次数：1004 · 研究领域：Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures、Quantum and electron transport phenomena、Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides

Double-ended aryl dithiols [alpha,alpha'-xylyldithiol (XYL) and 4,4'-biphenyldithiol] formed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold(111) substrates and were used to tether nanometer-sized gold clusters deposited from a cluster beam. An ultrahigh-vacuum scanning tunneling microscope was used to image these nanostructures and to measure their current-voltage characteristics as a function of the separation between the probe tip and the metal cluster. At room temperature, when the tip was positioned over a cluster bonded to the XYL SAM, the current-voltage data showed "Coulomb staircase" behavior. These data are in good agreement with semiclassical predictions for correlated single-electron tunneling and permit estimation of the electrical resistance of a single XYL molecule (approximately18 ± 12 megohms).