Spin-dependent electron transport along a molecular wire in a metal (probe)-vacuum-molecule-metal system: the effect of the size and the shape of the probe tip

Author

He, Haiying ; Pati, Ranjit ; Pandey, Ravindra ; Karna, Shashi P.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Michigan Technol. Univ., Houghton, MI, USA

fYear

2005

fDate

11-15 July 2005

Firstpage

815

Abstract

We present the results of a first-principles quantum mechanical study of spin-dependent electron transport along a molecular wire investigating the effects of the size and the shape of the probe tip on the tunneling current. A periodic, gradient-corrected density functional method together with Bardeen, Tersoff and Hamann formalism is employed in this study. The electron tunneling through a self-assembled monolayer of benzene 1,4-dithiol on the Ni(111) substrate is found to be strongly dependent on both shape and size of the probe tip.

Keywords

ab initio calculations; density functional theory; molecular electronics; monolayers; organic compounds; tunnelling; Ni; Ni(111) substrate; benzene 1,4-dithiol; density functional method; electron tunneling; first-principles quantum mechanical method; metal-vacuum-molecule-metal system; molecular wire; probe tip; self-assembled monolayer; spin-dependent electron transport; tunneling current; Atomic layer deposition; Electrodes; Electrons; Molecular electronics; Probes; Self-assembly; Shape; Surface topography; Tunneling; Wire;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nanotechnology, 2005. 5th IEEE Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9199-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NANO.2005.1500657

Filename

1500657