Molecular Electronics with a Metal—Insulator—Metal Junction Based on Self-Assembled Monolayers

The mechanisms of electron transport in metal-insulator-metal junctions are incompletely understood. A metal-insulator-metal junction consisting of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) supported on a mercury drop in mechanical contact with a SAM on a planar metal electrode has been developed as a test-bed with which to study electron transport through organic films. This review provides a summary of results intended to characterize this junction including: i) the determination of the electrical breakdown field of organic monolayers, ii) the determination of the tunneling decay constant for aliphatic and aromatic organic oligomers, and iii) the examination of molecular rectifier.