Control of topography, stress and diffusion at molecule–metal interfaces

The transport properties of metal–molecule–metal junctions containing a monolayer of conjugated and saturated molecules with characteristic dimensions in the range 30–300 nm are correlated with microscopic topography, stress and chemical bonding at the metal–molecule interfaces. Our statistically significant dataset allows us to conclude that the conductivity of organic molecules ∼1.5 nm long is at least four orders of magnitude lower than is commonly believed. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)