Local-field effects in current transport through molecular electronic devices: Current density profiles and local non-equilibrium electron distributions

Abstract

We analyze non-equilibrium current transport in molecular electronic devices, using as an example devices formed by two terphenyl dithiol molecules attached to gold electrodes. Using a first-principles based self-consistent matrix Green's function method, we show that the spatially resolved current density profiles and local electrochemical potential drops provide valuable information regarding the local field effect on molecular transport, which depend on the internal structure of the molecules and cannot be obtained from measuring the current- and conductance-voltage characteristics alone.

Submitted to Phys.Rev.B. Color figures are available in the online PRB version or upon request to: [email protected]

References in corpus (5)

• Probability of anomalously large Bit-Error-Rate in long haul optical transmission
• Microscopic study of electrical transport through individual molecules with metallic contacts: I. "Band" lineup, voltage drop and high-field transport
• Microscopic study of electrical transport through individual molecules with metallic contacts: II. Effect of the interface structure
• Electrical Nanoprobing of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes using an Atomic Force Microscope
• End group effect on electrical transport through individual molecules: A microscopic study

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Linear Chains of Styrene and Methyl-Styrene Molecules and their Heterojunctions on Silicon: Theory and Experiment
• Theoretical Principles of Single-Molecule Electronics: A Chemical and Mesoscopic View
• Critical comparison of electrode models in density functional theory based quantum transport calculations
• Local Temperatures Out of Equilibrium
• Interaction induced magnetic field asymmetry of nonlinear mesoscopic electrical transport
• On simulation of local fluxes in molecular junctions
• Current vortices in aromatic carbon molecules
• Local-noise spectroscopy for non-equilibrium systems
• Current Correlations in a Quantum Dot Ring: A Role of Quantum Interference