Researchers discover switching function in molecular wire

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The wire produced by the scientists from Kiel and San Sebastián is just two atomic bonds long and one atom wide. "This is the simplest molecular wire imaginable, thinner and much shorter is not possible," explained the Kiel physicist Torben Jasper-Tönnies, first author of the publication.
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In order to enable an electrical contact, the scientists developed a new wire, consisting of only a single molecule. "The special thing about our wire is that we can install it in a vertical position on a metal surface. This means that one of the two required contacts is already effectively built-in to the wire," explained Jasper-Tönnies.
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For the second required contact, the research team used a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). With a metal tip, it "feels" a sample, and creates an image of its surface on a scale down to a few nanometres. Individual atoms thus become visible. In their experiments, the Kiel researchers used a particularly fine metal tip for the STM, at the end of which was only a single atom. In this way, they were able to create an electrical contact with the second end of the wire, close the circuit, and measure the current. "Through this very precise contact via just one atom, we obtained particularly good data. We can replicate these contacts, and the current values measured differ very little from wire to wire," said Jasper-Tönnies.
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CletusWilbury said:

Researchers discover switching function in molecular wire October 27, 2017



This is amazing!

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