A 3-terminal single molecule nanoscale amperometer

A 3-terminal single molecule transducer is presented which is able to measure tunnel current intensities. The conformation of a pyrene–phenyl molecule is changed under an intramolecular inelastic current effect. This conformation change is detected by a third lateral electrode interacting also with the molecule. The full multi-channel electronic scattering matrix of the device is calculated taking into account the chemisorption of the molecule at one end and the details mechanics of the conformation change of this molecule. A semi-classical model is used to describe the intramolecular transduction effect between the electrons transferred through the molecule and its conformation change. It results a linear transduction curve between the input and the detection currents of the device for a range of tunnel current of interest for mono-molecular electronics.