Reversible single-molecule switching in an ordered monolayer molecular dipole array

Abstract

Making electronic devices using a single molecule has been the ultimate goal of molecular electronics. For binary data storage in particular, the challenge has been the ability to switch a single molecule in between bistable states in a simple and repeatable manner. The reversible switching of single molecules of chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (ClAlPc) dipolar molecules within a close-packed monolayer is demonstrated. By pulsing an scanning tunneling microscopy tip, read-write operations of single-molecular binary bits at ∼40 Tb/cm2 (∼250 Tb/in2) are demonstrated. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.