Electrical Measurements in Molecular Electronics

This paper reviews the various methods used to measure the electrical characteristics of individual or small groups of molecules, including crossed-wire junctions, mechanically controllable break junctions, conducting atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, molecular electronics on silicon surfaces, the NanoCell, nanopores, and other devices. It is shown that in the most common embodiment, the metal-molecule-metal junction, the assembly must be considered in whole. The characteristics of the molecule cannot be easily separated from the metal electrodes connected to it or from the method used to do the testing. I(V,T) data is necessary to rule out non-molecular transport mechanisms such as metal filament formation.