Contact Architecture Controls Conductance in Monolayer Devices

Kai B. Saller, Kung Ching Liao, Hubert Riedl, Paolo Lugli, Gregor Koblmüller, Jeffrey Schwartz, Marc Tornow, Marc Tornow, Marc Tornow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The architecture of electrically contacting the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of an organophosphonate has a profound effect on a device where the SAM serves as an intermolecular conductive channel in the plane of the substrate. Nanotransfer printing (nTP) enabled the construction of top-contact and bottom-contact architectures; contacts were composed of 13 nm thin metal films that were separated by a ca. 20 nm gap. Top-contact devices were fabricated by assembling the SAM across the entire surface of an insulating substrate and then applying the patterned metallic electrodes by nTP; bottom-contact ones were fabricated by nTP of the electrode pattern onto the substrate before the SAM was grown in the patterned nanogaps. SAMs were prepared from (9,10-di(naphthalen-2-yl)anthracen-2-yl)phosphonate; here, the naphthyl groups extend laterally from the anthracenylphosphonate backbone. Significantly, top-contact devices supported current that was about 3 orders of magnitude greater than that for comparable bottom-contact devices and that was at least 100,000 times greater than for a control device devoid of a SAM (at 0.5 V bias). These large differences in conductance between top- and bottom-contact architectures are discussed in consideration of differential contact-to-SAM geometries and, hence, resistances.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)28446-28450
Number of pages5
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume12
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 24 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Materials Science(all)

Keywords

  • bottom contacts
  • nanogaps
  • organic thin film electronics
  • self-assembled monolayers
  • top contacts

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