Measuring conductivity of a single molecule wire

from the More-molectronics dept.
A collaborative research team from the University of Arizona and Motorola, Inc. have devised a method to measure the electrical conductivity of a single molecule using contacts bonded to the two ends of an octanedithiol molecule. Many previous efforts to characterize possible molecular wires and other molectronic components have given variable results because the contacts were often simple mechanical contacts, not chemically-bonded connections. In their report in the 19 October 2001 issue of Science, the UA/Motorola team describe a method for creating through-bond electrical contacts with very small (2 nanometer) gold particles bonded to single molecules and the achievement of reproducible measurements of the molecules' conductivity. A schematic image is also available.