Formation of Au-Silane Bonds

Figure 4

Tunneling I-V characteristics at 4.2 K acquired on single 5 nm dia. Au NPs deposited on two different molecular layers self-assembled on a 150 nm superconducting Nb film. (a) On MPdS (di-Silane), showing enhanced zero-bias conductance that reflects strong electrical coupling to the Nb film. Inset: the corresponding dI/dV-V spectrum. (b) On OTS, showing single-electron tunneling effects that indicates weak electrical coupling. Two curves are presented, taken with different STM settings. The black curve shows a Coulomb blockade, which is removed in the red curve that exhibits a clear Coulomb staircase. Inset: derivative spectrum of the red curve. The voltage-current settings were (a) 𝑉_set=−10 mV; 𝐼_set=−0.3 nA, (b) 𝑉_set=−200 mV; 𝐼_set=−0.5 and −0.35 nA, for the black and red curves, respectively.

(a)

(b)