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Journal ArticleDOI

Nanomechanical oscillations in a single-C60 transistor

TLDR
Transport measurements are performed that provide evidence for a coupling between the centre-of-mass motion of the C60 molecules and single-electron hopping—a conduction mechanism that has not been observed previously in quantum dot studies.
Abstract
The motion of electrons through quantum dots is strongly modified by single-electron charging and the quantization of energy levels1,2. Much effort has been directed towards extending studies of electron transport to chemical nanostructures, including molecules3,4,5,6,7,8, nanocrystals9,10,11,12,13 and nanotubes14,15,16,17. Here we report the fabrication of single-molecule transistors based on individual C60 molecules connected to gold electrodes. We perform transport measurements that provide evidence for a coupling between the centre-of-mass motion of the C60 molecules and single-electron hopping18—a conduction mechanism that has not been observed previously in quantum dot studies. The coupling is manifest as quantized nano-mechanical oscillations of the C60 molecule against the gold surface, with a frequency of about 1.2 THz. This value is in good agreement with a simple theoretical estimate based on van der Waals and electrostatic interactions between C60 molecules and gold electrodes.

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Citations
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Coulomb blockade and the Kondo effect in single-atom transistors

TL;DR: Two related molecules containing a Co ion bonded to polypyridyl ligands, attached to insulating tethers of different lengths are examined, enabling the fabrication of devices that exhibit either single-electron phenomena, such as Coulomb blockade or the Kondo effect.
Journal ArticleDOI

Frictional Characteristics of Atomically Thin Sheets

TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the nanoscale frictional characteristics of atomically thin sheets of graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), niobium diselenide, and hexagonal boron nitride exfoliated onto a weakly adherent substrate (silicon oxide) to those of their bulk counterparts.
Journal ArticleDOI

Kondo resonance in a single-molecule transistor

TL;DR: The Kondo resonance can be tuned reversibly using the gate voltage to alter the charge and spin state of the molecule and persists at temperatures up to 30 K and when the energy separation between the molecular state and the Fermi level of the metal exceeds 100 meV.
Journal ArticleDOI

Electron transport in molecular junctions.

TL;DR: An overview of some of the recent advances in electron transport through molecules attached to electrodes is presented and issues, including molecule–electrode contacts, local heating- and current-induced instabilities, stochastic fluctuations and the development of characterization tools are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Fabry - Perot interference in a nanotube electron waveguide

TL;DR: This work describes an example of a coherent molecular electronic device whose behaviour is explicitly dependent on quantum interference between propagating electron waves—a Fabry–Perot electron resonator based on individual single-walled carbon nanotubes with near-perfect ohmic contacts to electrodes.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Room-temperature transistor based on a single carbon nanotube

TL;DR: In this paper, the fabrication of a three-terminal switching device at the level of a single molecule represents an important step towards molecular electronics and has attracted much interest, particularly because it could lead to new miniaturization strategies in the electronics and computer industry.
Book

Science of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a detailed overview of the properties of Fullerenes and their properties in surface science applications, such as scanning tunnel microscopy, growth and fragmentation studies, and chemical synthesis.
Journal ArticleDOI

Conductance of a Molecular Junction

TL;DR: In this paper, benzene-1,4-dithiol molecules were self-assembled onto the two facing gold electrodes of a mechanically controllable break junction to form a statically stable gold-sulfur-aryl-solfur-gold system, allowing for direct observation of charge transport through the molecules.
Journal ArticleDOI

Individual single-wall carbon nanotubes as quantum wires

TL;DR: In this article, electrical transport measurements on individual single-wall nanotubes have been performed to confirm the theoretical predictions of single-walled nanotube quantum wires, and they have been shown to act as genuine quantum wires.
Journal ArticleDOI

Electrostatic deflections and electromechanical resonances of carbon nanotubes

TL;DR: The methods developed here have been applied to a nanobalance for nanoscopic particles and also to a Kelvin probe based on nanotubes, which indicates a crossover from a uniform elastic mode to an elastic mode that involves wavelike distortions in the nanotube.
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