TY - JOUR
T1 - One-Nanometer Thin Monolayers Remove the Deleterious Effect of Substrate Defects in Molecular Tunnel Junctions
AU - Jiang, Li
AU - Sangeeth, C. S.Suchand
AU - Yuan, Li
AU - Thompson, Damien
AU - Nijhuis, Christian A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2015/10/14
Y1 - 2015/10/14
N2 - Defects in self-assembled monolayer (SAMs) based junctions cause the largest deviation between predicted and measured values of the tunnelling current. We report the remarkable, seemingly counterintuitive finding that shorter, less-ordered SAMs provide, unlike taller crystalline-like SAMs, higher quality tunnelling barriers on defective substrates, which points to self-repair of liquid-like SAMs on defects. The molecular dynamics show that short-chain molecules can more easily rotate into low-density boundary regions and smoothen out defects than thick solid-like SAMs. Our findings point to an attractive means of removing their deleterious effects simply by using flexible molecules.
AB - Defects in self-assembled monolayer (SAMs) based junctions cause the largest deviation between predicted and measured values of the tunnelling current. We report the remarkable, seemingly counterintuitive finding that shorter, less-ordered SAMs provide, unlike taller crystalline-like SAMs, higher quality tunnelling barriers on defective substrates, which points to self-repair of liquid-like SAMs on defects. The molecular dynamics show that short-chain molecules can more easily rotate into low-density boundary regions and smoothen out defects than thick solid-like SAMs. Our findings point to an attractive means of removing their deleterious effects simply by using flexible molecules.
KW - defects
KW - EGaIn junctions
KW - Molecular electronics
KW - self-assembled monolayers
KW - self-repair
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84944350880&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02481
DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02481
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84944350880
SN - 1530-6984
VL - 15
SP - 6643
EP - 6649
JO - Nano Letters
JF - Nano Letters
IS - 10
ER -