Course syllabus

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MCC075 Molecular electronics lp1 HT21 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience

Coulomb blockade project: (updated 2021-09-27)

The material for the project has been uploaded under Files to the left. Andrey's lecture will be on Tuesday Sept.28 at 10:00 in h-bar as in the schedule.

Flipped class-room preparation:

Until September 21/22, prepare by watching the recordings including 20200922b under the Files link. The iPad-notes are also there.
Matlab tasks on the diatomic molecule, benzene and atomic changes has been added under the Files folder

Molecular orbitals homework:

  • Download the compendium that is in the Files folder under the link to the left 
  • choose one molecule by sending an email to tomas.lofwander@chalmers.se
  • deadline for hand-in: Friday September 24

There have been some problems with a broken link for gOpenMol. I found this link (Links to an external site.).

There is also the possibility to use a program called Avogadro (https://avogadro.cc (Links to an external site.)) instead of both chemsketch and gOpenMol. There is an instruction video on Youtube that might be helpful: link

Chosen molecules so far: Pyridine

Teachers

  • Tomas Löfwander (examiner)
  • Kasper Moth-Poulsen
  • Andrey Danilov
  • Sergey Kubatkin

Course aim

The objective of the course is to give an exposure to the emerging field of molecular electronics with single molecules. The aim is to give an introduction into experimental techniques and theoretical concepts for electron transport through single molecule devices, and familiarize the students with the basic concepts for describing and simulating the physical properties of such systems.

Schedule

The lectures will be in the room C511 (also called h-bar, i.e., Planck's constant divided by 2 pi). It is located on the 5th floor, C-section, in the MC2-building.

We follow the schedule in this pdf-file: link

TimeEdit

Course literature

Course material will be made available under the Files folder (link in the menu to the left)

We use material from these two books:

1. Molecular Electronics: An Introduction To Theory And Experiment (World Scientific Series in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology), Juan Carlos Cuevas and Elke Scheer, World Scientific Publishing, ISBN-10: 9814282588, ISBN-13: 978-9814282581

It is available as electronic book through Chalmers library:

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/chalmers/detail.action?docID=731204 (Links to an external site.)

2. Handbook of Single-Molecule Electronics, Edited by Kasper Moth-Poulsen, Pan Stanford 2015, Print ISBN: 978-981-4463-38-6, eBook ISBN: 978-981-4463-39-3

It is available online through the Chalmers library:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429069383 (Links to an external site.)

Note: if you are sitting off-campus you need to sign in using VPN to get full access to the library resources.

Course design

The course will contain lectures on the prospects for single-molecule electronics, methods for contacting molecules and measuring current transport through them, and basic theory of current transport through single molecules with focus on the sequential tunneling regime and the quantum coherent regime. The lectures will be supplemented with problem solving classes and two computational exercises.

Learning outcomes

Following the course, you should be able to:

  • describe the basic regimes of charge transport through single molecule devices, such as Coulomb blockade, quantum coherent transport, and Kondo effect
  • explain the role of coupling between molecules and electrodes
  • model orbitals of simple molecules, using analytical methods and numerical methods based on available computational packages
  • describe the influence of internal degrees of freedom in molecular charge transport, such as electromechanical effects, vibrational effects, and molecular switching mechanisms
  • model current transport in the sequential tunneling regime and explain how it is affected by molecular properties
  • model current transport in the quantum coherent transport regime and explain how it is affected by molecular properties
  • describe available experimental techniques and concepts for studies of current transport though single molecule devices
  • describe chemical motifs for molecular switches, rectifiers, and transistors
  • describe chemical concepts for self-assembly of molecular devices.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen. (Links to an external site.)

Examination form

  • Homework (hand-in): molecular orbitals computational project; pass/fail grade
  • Homework (hand-in + oral presentation): Coulomb blockade project; max 5 bonus points on exam
  • Seminar where students presents a scientific article from the literature on experimental methods and concepts in molecular electronics; pass/fail grade
  • Written exam

Course summary:

Date Details Due