CONTROLLING THE SUPRAMOLECULAR AND ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF MOLECULAR TUNNELING JUNCTIONS

Abstract

This thesis describes the control over the supramolecular and electronic structure of molecular tunneling junctions is the key to ensure optimal performance of the molecular electronic devices and is the foundation to build-up new generation of these devices. Our optimization efforts include improvement of the quality of the junctions step-by-step from the roughness of the bottom-electrodes, the choice of electrode materials, the supramolecular packing of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM), to the coupling of the molecule with the electrodes. Our goal is to achieve high performance molecular electronic devices with high yield, high stability, supported by statistically large numbers of data. From Chapter 3 to Chapter 7 we studied the supramolecular and electronic structure of the molecular junctions to optimize their performances, and in Chapter 8 and 9, we used our understandings summarized from previous experimental work to enhance the performances of the molecular devices.