Functional molecules

Stabilizing well-defined charge and spin states of atoms and molecules, as well as controlled manipula-tion of these states, is of great interest within the framework of molecular electronics and is a prerequisite for the fabrication of molecule-based functional device units. While the realization and investigation of different electronic and spin states of molecular ensembles is relatively straightforward in solution, the integration of molecular units into functional devices neccessitates the ability to address and to manipulate the properties of single molecules.

By means of STM/STS we address the electronic and spin states of individual molecules on surfaces. For the preparation we will rely on the electrospray ion beam deposition method (see Figure a-c), which allows for the controllable surface deposition of various compounds such as phthalocyanines (see Figure d) or molecular magnets (see Figure e).