Observation of negative differential resistance and single-electron tunneling in electromigrated break junctions

• Published in: Thin solid films 2008-03, Vol.516 (9), p.2762-2766
• Main Authors: Noguchi, Yutaka, Ueda, Rieko, Kubota, Tohru, Kamikado, Toshiya, Yokoyama, Shiyoshi, Nagase, Takashi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electromigration; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport in interface structures; Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Metal-insulator-metal structures; Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics; Negative differential resistance; Physics; Porphyrin; Quantum dots; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Single molecule transistor; Single-electron tunneling
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2007.04.111

We observed a negative differential resistance (NDR) along with single-electron tunneling (SET) in the electron transport of electromigrated break junctions with metal-free tetraphenylporphyrin (H 2BSTBPP) at a temperature of 11 K. The NDR strongly depended on the applied gate voltages, and appeared only in the electron tunneling region of the Coulomb diamond. We could explain the mechanism of this new type of electron transport by a model assuming a molecular Coulomb island and local density of states of the source and the drain electrodes.