How to Assemble a Molecular Junction

Junctions between metals and molecules play an important role in molecular electronics. Advances in this field are hampered by the lack of understanding of the electronic structure of organic-metal interfaces. In his Perspective, Kummel highlights the report by Nazin et al. (3), who have used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to assemble a metal-molecule-metal junction. Subsequently, they employed the STM tip to probe the atomic structure and local electronic properties of the metal-molecule interface in unprecedented detail. They find evidence for strong coupling between the molecular and metal states. Such coupling affects the conductivity of metal-molecule-metal junctions.