1
|
Rubio-Bollinger G, Castellanos-Gomez A, Bilan S, Zotti LA, Arroyo CR, Agraït N, Cuevas JC. Carbon-fiber tips for scanning probe microscopes and molecular electronics experiments. Nanoscale Res Lett 2012; 7:254. [PMID: 22587692 PMCID: PMC3431272 DOI: 10.1186/1556-276x-7-254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2012] [Accepted: 05/15/2012] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
We fabricate and characterize carbon-fiber tips for their use in combined scanning tunneling and force microscopy based on piezoelectric quartz tuning fork force sensors. An electrochemical fabrication procedure to etch the tips is used to yield reproducible sub-100-nm apex. We also study electron transport through single-molecule junctions formed by a single octanethiol molecule bonded by the thiol anchoring group to a gold electrode and linked to a carbon tip by the methyl group. We observe the presence of conductance plateaus during the stretching of the molecular bridge, which is the signature of the formation of a molecular junction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gabino Rubio-Bollinger
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
| | - Andres Castellanos-Gomez
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, 5046 Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2600, GA, Netherlands
| | - Stefan Bilan
- Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
| | - Linda A Zotti
- Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
| | - Carlos R Arroyo
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, 5046 Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2600, GA, Netherlands
| | - Nicolás Agraït
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
| | - Juan Carlos Cuevas
- Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada (C–III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, E-28049, Spain
| |
Collapse
|