STM observation of a single diarylethene flickering

N Battaglini (1) , H Klein (2) , C Hortholary (3) , Christophe Coudret (3) , F Maurel (1) , Philippe Dumas (2)

1 ITODYS (UMR_7086) - Interfaces, Traitements, Organisation et Dynamique des Systèmes
2 AMU - Aix Marseille Université
3 IMRCP - Interactions moléculaires et réactivité chimique et photochimique

We report the STM observation of single diarylethene derivatives (DD) embedded into alkylthiol Self Assembled Monolayers (SAM) on Au(111). Telegraph noise in the data shows that the molecular conductance oscillates between two states. Comparing our results to the ones obtained by other teams observing conductance flickering with systems in the same geometry, we relate the two observed states to the two isomeric configurations of the molecule under study.

Mots clés: Scanning tunneling microscopy; Self assembly; Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Chimie-Physique [physics.chem-ph]

N Battaglini, H Klein, C Hortholary, Christophe Coudret, F Maurel, et al.. STM observation of a single diarylethene flickering. Ultramicroscopy, 2007, 107 (10-11), pp.958 - 962. ⟨10.1016/j.ultramic.2007.04.016⟩. ⟨hal-01075129⟩