A meso-pyridyl porphyrin self-assembled monolayer on gold substrates for molecular electronics applications

In this paper, we report the formation of meso-pyridyl porphyrin self assembled monolayers on a gold substrate, its surface topography by AFM and its electrical characteristics by STS. The self-assembly was accomplished by thiol bonding the molecule from solution to a thermally evaporated gold substrate. Formation of SAMs was confirmed by high resolution AFM. It showed a basic hexagonal well ordered self-assembled monolayers of the molecule. Room temperature current-voltage (I-V) spectra by STS were collected to study the conductance properties of the SAMs. We anticipate the potential application of these SAMs for memory applications, and detailed characterizations are currently under progress.