Abstract
In single-molecular electronics, the charge transport properties of single-molecular junctions are utilized as an electronic device. One of the simplest molecular devices may be a single-electron transistor (SET) in which the single-electron transport appeared in the molecular junctions is used. We have been studied the device properties of “single-molecule SETs” and “nano-particle SETs”, where these devices consist of a nano gap electrode bridged by a π-conjugated molecule and gold nanoparticles covered with molecular wires, respectively. In these devices, the molecules are used as a Coulomb island or tunneling barrier. In addition, we recently proposed a new device structure that is a “dye-doped SET”, in which dye-molecules act as a floating gate. In this article, we describe the properties, advantages, and possible applications of these devices.
