Efficient heating of single-molecule junctions for thermoelectric studies at cryogenic temperatures

Pascal Gehring, Martijn Van Der Star, Charalambos Evangeli, Jennifer J. Le Roy, Lapo Bogani, Oleg V. Kolosov, Herre S.J. Van Der Zant

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
66 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The energy dependent thermoelectric response of a single molecule contains valuable information about its transmission function and its excited states. However, measuring it requires devices that can efficiently heat up one side of the molecule while being able to tune its electrochemical potential over a wide energy range. Furthermore, to increase junction stability, devices need to operate at cryogenic temperatures. In this work, we report on a device architecture to study the thermoelectric properties and the conductance of single molecules simultaneously over a wide energy range. We employ a sample heater in direct contact with the metallic electrodes contacting the single molecule which allows us to apply temperature biases up to ΔT = 60 K with minimal heating of the molecular junction. This makes these devices compatible with base temperatures Tbath < 2 K and enables studies in the linear (Δ T ≪ T molecule) and nonlinear (Δ T ≫ T molecule) thermoelectric transport regimes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number073103
Number of pages6
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume115
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

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