Insulator-protected mechanically controlled break junctions for measuring single-molecule conductance in aqueous environments

Journal article (2016)

Authors

N. Muthusubramanian QN/van der Zant Lab -

E Galan

C. Maity ChemE/Advanced Soft Matter -

R. Eelkema ChemE/Advanced Soft Matter -

F.C. Grozema ChemE/Opto-electronic Materials -

H.S.J. van der Zant QN/van der Zant Lab -

Research Group

ChemE/Advanced Soft Matter () (TU Delft)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4955273

More Info

expand_more

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4576e049-5e2b-4c82-90d4-78435fd655f1

Published Date

04-07-2016

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Applied Sciences

Department

ChemE/Chemical Engineering

Research Group

ChemE/Advanced Soft Matter

Abstract

We present a method to fabricate insulated gold mechanically controlled break junctions (MCBJ) by coating the metal with a thin layer of aluminum oxide using plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition. The Al2O3 thickness deposited on the MCBJ devices was varied from 2 to 15 nm to test the suppression of leakage currents in deionized water and phosphate buffered saline. Junctions coated with a 15 nm thick oxide layer yielded atomically sharp electrodes and negligible conductance counts in the range of 1 to 10-4 G0 (1 G0 = 77 μS), where single-molecule conductances are commonly observed. The insulated devices were used to measure the conductance of an amphiphilic oligophenylene ethynylene derivative in deionized water.

Files

1.4955273.pdf

(.pdf | 1.34 Mb)