Metallic conduction at organic charge-transfer interfaces

abstract

The electronic properties of interfaces between two different solids can differ strikingly from those of the constituent materials. For instance, metallic conductivity-and even superconductivity-have recently been discovered at interfaces formed by insulating transition-metal oxides. Here, we investigate interfaces between crystals of conjugated organic molecules, which are large-gap undoped semiconductors, that is, essentially insulators. We find that highly conducting interfaces can be realized with resistivity ranging from 1 to 30 k Omega per square, and that, for the best samples, the temperature dependence of the conductivity is metallic. The observed electrical conduction originates from a large transfer of charge between the two crystals that takes place at the interface, on a molecular scale. As the interface assembly process is simple and can be applied to crystals of virtually any conjugated molecule, the conducting interfaces described here represent the first examples of a new class of electronic systems.

keywords

FIELD-EFFECT TRANSISTORS; SELF-ASSEMBLED MONOLAYERS; SINGLE-CRYSTAL; MOLECULAR STRUCTURE; TRANSPORT; MOBILITY; SURFACE; TCNQ; TTF; 7,7,8,8-TETRACYANOQUINODIMETHANE

subject category

Chemistry; Materials Science; Physics

authors

Alves, H; Molinari, AS; Xie, HX; Morpurgo, AF

our authors

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