The possibility to fabricate electronic devices with functional building blocks of atomic size is a major driving force of nanotechnology. Key elements in microelectronics are reliable switches and memories as well as devices showing spin-dependent transport phenomena. Switches are usually realized by transistors and these components have been miniaturized all the way down close to the atomic scale. However, at such scales, three terminals, as required for transistors, are technically challenging to implement. Here I will first show that carefull electromigraiton can be used to operate atomic-size contacts as reliable and fatigue-resistant two-terminal switches. I will then present single-molecule transport experiments carried out on photochromic molecules where light pulses are used to switch the status of the molecule instead. Finally, I will discuss recent observations of magnetic-field tunable transport in organic radical molecules.

Two-terminal single-molecule functional devices

255th National Meeting (2018)

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