Transition voltage spectroscopy in vacuum break junction

• Verfasst von: Bâldea, Ioan [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Transition voltage spectroscopy in vacuum break junction
• Titelzusatz: possible role of surface states
• Verf.angabe: Ioan Bâldea
• E-Jahr: 2012
• Jahr: 12 April 2012
• Umfang: 6 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 03.08.2018 ; received 16 January 2012; accepted in final form 11 March 2012; published online 12 April 2012
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: epl
• Ort Quelle: Les Ulis : EDP Sciences, 1986
• Jahr Quelle: 2012
• Band/Heft Quelle: 98(2012), 1, Seite 17010p1-p6
• ISSN Quelle: 1286-4854
• DOI: doi:10.1209/0295-5075/98/17010
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1578230020

Abstract

The recently proposed transition voltage ( V t ) spectroscopy (TVS) is becoming an increasingly popular tool to analyze electric transport through molecular devices. Very recently, to get additional insight into TVS, the distance ( d ) dependence V t ( d ) in vacuum break junctions has been investigated experimentally. In this letter, we point out inconsistencies of the initial theoretical interpretation, based on approximate Wenzel-Krammers-Brillouin (WKB)-type results within the standard vacuum tunneling barrier model. We demonstrate that even the exact treatment of this model fails to explain the experimental V t ( d )-dependence, but the agreement with experiment is substantially improved by accounting for electron states (or resonances) at electrodes' surface. These findings suggest that surface states may also play a significant role in molecular devices with sharp electrodes and calls for further investigations.