Issue 48, 2021

Silicon – single molecule – silicon circuits

Abstract

In 2020, silicon – molecule – silicon junctions were fabricated and shown to be on average one third as conductive as traditional junctions made using gold electrodes, but in some instances to be even more conductive, and significantly 3 times more extendable and 5 times more mechanically stable. Herein, calculations are performed of single-molecule junction structure and conductivity pertaining to blinking and scanning-tunnelling-microscopy (STM) break junction (STMBJ) experiments performed using chemisorbed 1,6-hexanedithiol linkers. Some strikingly different characteristics are found compared to analogous junctions formed using the metals which, to date, have dominated the field of molecular electronics. In the STMBJ experiment, following retraction of the STM tip after collision with the substrate, unterminated silicon surface dangling bonds are predicted to remain after reaction of the fresh tips with the dithiol solute. These dangling bonds occupy the silicon band gap and are predicted to facilitate extraordinary single-molecule conductivity. Enhanced junction extendibility is attributed to junction flexibility and the translation of adsorbed molecules between silicon dangling bonds. The calculations investigate a range of junction atomic-structural models using density-functional-theory (DFT) calculations of structure, often explored at 300 K using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. These are aided by DFT calculations of barriers for passivation reactions of the dangling bonds. Thermally averaged conductivities are then evaluated using non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) methods. Countless applications through electronics, nanotechnology, photonics, and sensing are envisaged for this technology.

Graphical abstract: Silicon – single molecule – silicon circuits

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
07 Sept. 2021
Accepted
28 Okt. 2021
First published
29 Okt. 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 15870-15881

Silicon – single molecule – silicon circuits

J. R. Reimers, J. Yang, N. Darwish and D. S. Kosov, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 15870 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC04943G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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