Observation of a Single Electron on a Alkanethiol-Protected Au Nanodot in a Double-barrier Tunneling Structure by Noncontact Atomic-Force Spectroscopy

摘要

Nanomechanical devices have attracted much attention not only for their interesting phenomenon including mechanical motion but also for applications in electronics and precision measuring method. For understanding the operation of nanomechanical single-electron devices, the observation of a single electron on a nanodot in a double-barrier tunnelling structure is important. Here we measure the cantilever frequency shift (Δf)-sample voltage (V{sub}s) characteristic in a double-barrier tunneling structure that consists of an Au coated cantilever in vacuum, 1-decanethiol (CH{sub}3(CH{sub}2){sub}9SH) protected Au nanodot, 1-octanethiol (CH{sub}3(CH{sub}2){sub}7SH) self-assembled monolayer (SAM)/Au substrate by noncontact atomic-force spectroscopy (nc-AFS) technique. We demonstrate and discuss single-electron counting on a single nanodot caused by the Coulomb blockade (CB) phenomena.