Development of a Nanowire-Based Test Bed Device for Molecular Electronics Applications

In this paper, we present a novel test bed system which
we believe addresses several key challenges in molecular
electronics, i.e., the need to fabricate metal-moleculemetal junctions that have the potential to facilitate singlemolecule measurements, are easily characterized, and are
reproducible. The system is based upon template-electrodeposited metal nanowires incorporating a self-assembled monolayer spacer that are fabricated into electrical devices using direct-write photolithography. Removal
of the spacer leaves a nanometer-sized, characterizable
gap to which nanoparticles or a test molecule of interest
can be attached postfabrication. Here we report the
fabrication procedure together with results showing the
application of these devices to the study of the i/V
characteristics of Au nanoparticles at cryogenic temperatures. These data demonstrate that the performance of
these easily produced, inexpensive, novel devices compares favorably to that of devices made using preexisting
methods.