Effect of image-charges on electron transport better understood
Monday, March 25, 2013 - 09:01
in Physics & Chemistry
Electron transport through a single molecule offers a highly promising new technology for the production of electronic chips. However it is difficult to make a good conducting connection between the molecule and the metal contacts. Researchers from the FOM Foundation, Delft University of Technology and Leiden University have discovered an effect that plays a major role in this: the so-called 'image-charges' in the metal contacts strongly influence the electron transport through the molecule. The molecular conduction can differ by several orders of magnitude as a result of this.