Differential Conductance Peak Exchange in Borromean Ring Single Molecule Transistors

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While Single Molecule Transistors have been employed in laboratory research for a number of years, there remain many details related to charge transport that have yet to be delineated. We have used the technique of electromigration to create a nanometer-size gap for hosting a single molecule in the narrowest portion of a gold wire defined by electron beam lithography. A recently synthesized Borromean Ring complex was used as the active molecular element of the transistor devices. It is well established in Single Molecule Transistors that, for sweeps of source-drain voltage, a region of zero conductance commonly appears - known as a conductance gap - which is centered about Vₛd = 0. We have observed differential conductance peaks on opposing sides of these conductance gaps exchange positions as a result of changing gate bias. We associate this property with a change in sign of the majority charge carriers flowing through the molecule. That is, a measured change in differential conductance occurs when current through a molecular energy level shifts between the flow of holes and the flow of electrons.