Career Development Plan

Abstract 9624154 Frisbie This proposal addresses two separate projects which are part of general investigations of nanoscale materials chemistry. The first project, is concerned with the construction of nanoscale molecular transistors (NMTs) to determine electrical conductivity mechanisms in individual molecules and molecular aggregates. These molecular devices will operate analogously to recently developed single electron transistors based on quantum dots. To make these devices, new methods for nanofabrication with the atomic force microscope will be utilized as well as conventional electron beam writing techniques. Molecules can be placed between closely-spaced source and drain electrodes by vapor deposition, or by molecular self-assembly. The aim is to observe the Coulomb Blockade for the first time in organic materials, to achieve room temperature operation, and to demonstrate transport spectroscopy in which the energy levels available for charge transport in the molecules are revealed. Completion of these studies will result in significantly new knowledge of conductivity mechanisms in organic materials and will define an important prospective device technology for molecular electronics. For the second project, a new scanning probe technique, near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), will be used to probe the optical properties of electrochemical interfaces and nanostructures with high (