Electronic Structure in Single Molecule Transport

非技术描述：随着消费电子产品尺寸的迅速缩小，需要制造更小的电子元件，基于单分子的器件是小型化的终极限制。尽管取得了令人印象深刻的进展，但针对分子尺度电子学的靶向材料设计目前仍具有挑战性。为了克服这一障碍，研究小组调查了在单分子极限和新开发的有机分子中探测到的电流流动和电子性质。分子和新的实验方法旨在阐明在单个分子限制下工作的器件，如晶体管、二极管和传感器的功能和特性可以被定制和优化的方法。该项目为开发远远超过当前小型化方法的下一代电子产品制定了设计规则。该研究计划在材料科学的跨学科领域培训研究生和本科生学者，包括女性和来自代表性不足的少数族裔的学者。此外，来自亚利桑那州农村的社区大学生通过创建公开可用的数据库和分子规模电子产品的新兴分子设计规则的图形海报展示，将其整合到前沿研究中。技术描述：迫切需要将电子电路微型化到分子规模的极限，并开发硅基电子产品以外的功能。分子电子学旨在通过利用有机分子的合成丰富性并将它们集成到分子大小的设备中来应对这一挑战。然而，目前还缺乏对连接到电极上的分子在纳米级、偏压和非平衡状态下的电子结构的详细了解。利用单分子断裂测量，研究团队首先开发新的分子设计，创建高度定义的连接，从而解决这个问题。然后，它系统地改变分子的性质，以适应联合接触-分子-接触系统的能级和波函数的变化。最后，提出了光谱获取单分子结中电子结构的新方法。主要研究人员协同结合了新材料的合成、单分子传输的高灵敏度测量和先进的统计分析方法。该项目建立了将新的电子技术推向最终尺寸限制所需的分子水平的理解。通过培训下一代材料科学家，包括女性和来自未被充分代表的少数民族的学生，并通过将来自亚利桑那州农村的社区大学生纳入尖端研究，研究团队培养了下一代材料科学的领导者。

Nontechnical Description: As consumer electronics rapidly decrease in size, there is a need to fabricate ever smaller electronic components, with devices based on single molecules as the ultimate miniaturization limit. Despite impressive progress, targeted materials design for molecular-scale electronics is at present still challenging. In order to overcome this barrier, the research team investigates current flow and electronic properties probed in the single molecule limit and through newly developed organic molecules. The molecules and new experimental approaches are designed to elucidate ways in which the function and properties of devices operating at the single molecule limit, such as transistors, diodes and sensors, can be tailored and optimized. The project establishes design rules for developing next-generation electronics that far exceed current miniaturization approaches. The research program trains graduate and undergraduate scholars, including women and those from underrepresented minorities, in interdisciplinary areas of materials science. Additionally, community college students from rural Arizona are integrated in the cutting-edge research by creating a publically available database and graphical poster displays of emerging molecular design rules for molecular-scale electronics.Technical Description: There is an urgent need to miniaturize electronic circuits to the molecule-scale limit, and to develop functionalities beyond Si-based electronics. Molecular electronics aims to tackle this challenge by harnessing the synthetic richness of organic molecules and integrating them into molecular-sized devices. Currently missing however is a detailed understanding of the electronic structure of molecules attached to electrodes, at the nanoscale, under bias and out of equilibrium. Using single molecule breakjunction measurements, the research team addresses this issue by first developing new molecular designs that create highly defined junctions. It then systematically varies molecular properties to tailor changes to the energy levels and wavefunction of the combined contact-molecule-contact system. Finally, it advances new approaches to spectroscopically access the electronic structure in the single molecule junction. The principal investigators synergistically combine synthesis of new materials, highly sensitive measurements of transport in single molecules, and advanced statistical analysis methods. The project establishes the molecular-level understanding needed to push new electronic technologies to the ultimate size-limit. By training the next generation of materials scientists, including women and students from underrepresented minorities, and by integrating community college students from rural Arizona in cutting-edge research, the research team develops the next generation of leaders in materials science.