Crossed-nanowire molecular junctions: a new multispectroscopy platform for conduction--structure correlations

Nano Lett. 2010 Aug 11;10(8):2897-902. doi: 10.1021/nl100982q.

Abstract

We report a crossed-nanowire molecular junction array platform that enables direct measurement of current-voltage-temperature characteristics simultaneously with inelastic electron tunneling and Raman vibrational spectra on the same junction. Measurements on dithiol-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) junctions show both spectroscopies interrogate the gap-confined molecules to reveal distinct molecular features. This versatile platform allows investigation of advanced phenomena such as molecular switching and cooperative effects with the flexible ability to scale both the junction geometries and array sizes.