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Measurement of the conductance of a hydrogen molecule

R. H. M. Smit·Y. Noat·C. Untiedt·N. D. Lang·M. van Hemert·J. M. van Ruitenbeek
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Abstract

Recent years have shown steady progress in research towards molecular electronics [1,2], where molecules have been investigated as switches [3-5], diodes [6], and electronic mixers [7]. In much of the previous work a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope was employed to address an individual molecule. As this arrangement does not provide long-term stability, more recently metal-molecule-metal links have been made using break junction devices [8-10]. However, it has been difficult to establish unambiguously that a single molecule forms the contact [11]. Here, we show that a single H2 molecule can form a stable bridge between Pt electrodes. In contrast to results for other organic molecules, the bridge has a nearly perfect conductance of one quantum unit, carried by a single channel. The H2-bridge provides a simple test system and a fundamental step towards understanding transport properties of single-molecule devices.

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R. H. M. Smit, Y. Noat, C. Untiedt, N. D. Lang, M. van Hemert, J. M. van Ruitenbeek. 2002-08-21. Measurement of the conductance of a hydrogen molecule. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01103

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