Electrical characterization of alkane monolayers using micro-transfer printing : tunneling and molecular transport

We present the characterization of a decanedithiol monolayer using a technique which is based on micro-transfer printing. This technique allows us to contact molecular monolayers on the scale of 100μm2 without producing electrical shorts between the metallic contacts. This opens the possibility to characterize the behavior of metal–molecule contacts on a large ensemble. Electrical measurements of the decanes show that two main transport mechanisms dominate conduction through this monolayer, tunneling between the electrodes and transport through electric states of the molecules. In our setup, tunneling is temperature dependent, because a length change of the molecules causes changes of the effective tunneling width.