Permittivity measurements on molecular-sized samples

Experimental and instrumental design is described in connection with efforts to make organic bistable devices. One of the research goals is to measure the electrical properties of materials and active devices made with molecular (mainly organic) materials. The size of material samples, and the specimens used for measurement, are exceedingly small, typically layers with a thickness on the order of 100 nm. Preliminary results on polyethylene crystals grown under properly controlled circumstances from solutions of PE in xylene are presented