Suppression of Charge Carrier Tunneling through Organic Self-Assembled Monolayers

C. Boulas; J. V. Davidovits; F. Rondelez; D. Vuillaume

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.4797

Suppression of Charge Carrier Tunneling through Organic Self-Assembled Monolayers

C. Boulas, J. V. Davidovits, F. Rondelez, and D. Vuillaume

Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4797 – Published 17 June 1996

Abstract

Self-assembled monolayers of long chain alkanes deposited on silicon wafers using an optimally designed procedure exhibit very large energy barriers ( $\sim 4.5$ eV) to carrier tunneling. The dc conductivity is found to be $\sim 4.6 \times 10^{- 15}$ S/cm, close to that of bulk polyethylene, and independent of monolayer thickness. This demonstrates that the tunneling contribution to the overall conductivity can be made negligible when the organic structure is densely packed and highly ordered. Distinctly higher conductivity values are observed with disordered monolayers.

Received 16 February 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.4797

Authors & Affiliations

C. Boulas¹, J. V. Davidovits², F. Rondelez², and D. Vuillaume¹

¹Institut d'Electronique et de Microélectronique du Nord (IEMN), and Physics Department at Institut Supérieur d'Electronique du Nord, BP 69, F-59652 Cedex, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
²Physico-chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces, Institut Curie, F-75231 Cedex, Paris, France