One-Nanometer Thin Monolayers Remove the Deleterious Effect of Substrate Defects in Molecular Tunnel Junctions

Li Jiang, C. S.Suchand Sangeeth, Li Yuan, Damien Thompson, Christian A. Nijhuis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6643-6649
Number of pages7
JournalNano Letters
Volume15
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Oct 2015

Keywords

  • defects
  • EGaIn junctions
  • Molecular electronics
  • self-assembled monolayers
  • self-repair

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