Conductive probe AFM measurements of conjugated molecular wires

The electrical conduction of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) made from conjugated molecules was measured using conductive probe atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM), with a focus on the molecular structural effect on conduction. First, the electrical conduction of SAMs made from phenylene oligomer SAMs was measured. The resistances through the monolayers increased exponentially with an increase in molecular length and the decay constants of transconductance beta were about 0.45 to 0.61 A(-1) measured at lower bias region. We further investigated the influence of applied load on the resistances. The resistances through terphenyl SAMs increased with an increase in the applied load up to 14 nN. Second, using an insertion technique into insulating alkanethiol SAMs, the electrical conduction of single conjugated terphenyl methanethiol and oligo(para-phenylenevinylene) (OPV) molecules embedded into insulating alkanethiol SAMs were measured. Electrical currents through these single molecules of OPVs were estimated to be larger than those through single terphenyl molecules, suggesting that the OPV structure can increase the electrical conduction of single molecules. Third, apparent negative differential resistance (NDR) was observed at higher bias measurements of SAMs. The appearance of NDR might be related to roughness of SAM surface, because apparent NDR was often observed on rough surfaces. In any case, the tip-molecule contact condition strongly affected carrier transport through metal tip/SAM/metal junction.