Abstract
Electron transport through a single C60 molecule on Cu(1 1 1) has been investigated with a scanning tunnelling microscope in tunnelling and contact ranges. Single-C60 junctions have been fabricated by establishing a contact between the molecule and the tip, which is reflected by a down-shift in the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital resonance. These junctions are stable even at elevated bias voltages enabling conductance measurements at high voltages and nonlinear conductance spectroscopy in tunnelling and contact ranges. Spectroscopy and first principles transport calculations clarify the relation between molecular orbital resonances and the junction conductance. Due to the strong molecule–electrode coupling the simple picture of electron transport through individual orbitals does not hold.
Highlights
The transport of electrons through atomic-scale contacts between two electrodes may be interpreted in terms of transport channels—quantum states extending between the electrodes—and their transmission probabilities τn [1]
Single-C60 junctions have been fabricated by establishing a contact between the molecule and the tip, which is reflected by a down-shift in the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital resonance
Spectroscopy and first principles transport calculations clarify the relation between molecular orbital resonances and the junction conductance
Summary
The transport of electrons through atomic-scale contacts between two electrodes may be interpreted in terms of transport channels—quantum states extending between the electrodes—and their transmission probabilities τn [1]. In calculations, these probabilities vary drastically as a function of the electron energy [2,3,4,5]. Metallic contacts between superconducting leads are a notable exception In this case, Andreev reflections have been used to experimentally determine the τn at low bias [2, 6, 7]. It turns out that a picture of parallel transport through individual orbitals is too simple and only accounts for a fraction of the total conductance
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