V M García-Suárez and C J Lambert 2008 Nanotechnology 19 455203 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/19/45/455203
V M García-Suárez and C J Lambert
Show affiliationsWe study the electronic and transport properties of two novel molecular wires made of atomic chains of carbon atoms (polyynes) capped with either benzene-thiols or pyridines. While both molecules are structurally similar, the electrical conductance of benzene-thiol-capped chains attached to gold electrodes is found to be much higher than that of pyridine-capped chains. We predict that the conductance is almost independent of molecular length, which suggests that these molecules could be ideal molecular wires for sub-10 nm circuitry. Both systems exhibit negative differential resistance (NDR) but its origin and characteristics depend on the type of molecule. We find a novel type of NDR mechanism produced by the movement of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) resonance with bias. We also show that by gating the pyridine-capped molecules it is possible to make the NDR disappear and dramatically modify the I–V characteristics and the length dependence.
85.65.+h Molecular electronic devices
73.63.-b Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures
85.35.-p Nanoelectronic devices
Issue 45 (12 November 2008)
Received 11 August 2008, in final form 12 September 2008
Published 8 October 2008
V M García-Suárez and C J Lambert 2008 Nanotechnology 19 455203
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