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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 99 » Issue 14
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 146803 (2007) [4 pages]

Mechanism for Negative Differential Resistance in Molecular Electronic Devices: Local Orbital Symmetry Matching

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Lan Chen1, Zhenpeng Hu1, Aidi Zhao1, Bing Wang1,*, Yi Luo1,2, Jinlong Yang1,†, and J. G. Hou1,‡
1Hefei National Laboratory of Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People’s Republic of China
2Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, AlbaNova, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Received 11 February 2007; published 4 October 2007

A new mechanism for negative differential resistance (NDR) originating from local orbital symmetry matching between an electrode and a molecule in a single molecular electronic device is proposed and demonstrated by a joint experimental and theoretical scanning tunneling microscope study of a cobalt phthalocyanines (CoPc) molecule on a gold substrate. For two different metal tips used, Ni and W, NDR occurs only with Ni tips and shows no dependence on the geometrical shape of the tip. Calculations reveal that such a behavior is a result of local orbital symmetry matching between the Ni tip and Co atom.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.146803
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.146803
PACS:
85.65.+h, 73.63.−b, 68.37.Ef

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. bwang@ustc.edu.cn

†To whom correspondence should be addressed. jlyang@ustc.edu.cn

‡To whom correspondence should be addressed. jghou@ustc.edu.cn

 
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