Electrical measurements of a dithiolated electronic molecule via conducting atomic force microscopy

We describe a method of measuring the electrical properties of a molecule via conducting atomic force microscopy (AFM). A dithiolated molecule is chemically inserted into defect sites in an insulating self-assembled monolayer formed on an epitaxial Au substrate and the top thiol terminus of the molecule is reacted with a Au nanoparticle. A Au-coated AFM probe is used to contact the molecule through the nanoparticle, thus electrical data can be obtained. We report preliminary transport measurements of two test molecules. Our data shows qualitative agreement with previously published results for similar molecules deposited in a nanopore containing approximately a thousand molecules. This work indicates that the measured negative differential resistance is not an intermolecular phenomenon.