A Study on the Negative Differential Resistance in Dipyridinium Self-Assembled Monolayers Using STM

Organic monolayers were fabricated onto Au(l l l) substrate by self-assembly method using dipyridinium. Also, organic single molecule in the organic monolayers was selected to measure the current-voltage (I-V) curves by using the ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (UHV-STM). The organic molecule used in the experiment was dipyridinium dithioacetate, which contains thiol functional group and can be self-assembled easily onto Au(l l l) substrate. The concentration of dipyridinium dithioacetate for self-assembly procedure was I [mM/L]. To confirm the formation of self-assembled mono layers (SAMs), the differences of thickness of the self-assembled organic monolayers were observed by using an ellipsometer, and the morphology and I-V curves of the SAMs were investigated by using UHV-STM. The applied voltages were from -2 [V] to +2 [V], temperature was 300 [K]. The vacuum for measuring current of the organic single molecule was 6 $\times$ 10$^{-8}$ [Torr]. As a result, properties of the negative differential resistance (NDR) in constant voltage were found.