Structure of a Molecular-Scale Circuit Component

The scientists created the junctions by filling a small container with a drop of liquid mercury and depositing a very small amount of alkyl-thiol onto the mercury surface. They then topped the alkyl-thiol layer with an alkyl-silane-coated silicon wafer. This method yielded a junction with just a five-nanometer-thick gap between the two electrodes.

Michael Lefenfeld

“This technique is not limited to simple alkane molecules,” said Columbia University graduate student Michael Lefenfeld, the study’s second lead scientist. “Many other types of organic molecules could be used, such as semi-conducting and conducting molecules.

These materials also have a structure and packing density that plays a large role in their electrical performance.”

Illuminating the details

The research group studied the junction at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source, a facility that produces x-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared light for research. They aimed high-energy x-rays — energetic enough to penetrate the silicon wafer — at the junction from several incident angles and measured how the rays scattered off the organic molecules. Next, they attached electric contacts to the silicon and mercury electrodes and, for several different applied voltages, measured both the reflected x-ray signal and the electric current through the junction.

By analyzing the x-ray scattering data, the researchers discovered that the organic molecules are densely packed together, with most of the molecules positioned vertically. Further, the combination of the electric-current and x-ray measurements revealed that the current does not deform that structure, even when the applied voltage was very high. This implies that the molecular structure is quite stable.

“These are important details to know in order to fully understand the electronic properties of molecular-scale junctions,” said Brookhaven Physicist Benjamin Ocko, one of the study’s senior researchers. “These investigation methods should be able to provide us with a better understanding of many other molecular junctions.”

This research was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, the New York State Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research, and the German-Israeli Foundation.