Configuration-Specific Insight into Single-Molecule Conductance and Noise Data Revealed by the Principal Component Projection Method

Abstract

We explore the merits of neural network boosted, principal-component-projection-based, unsupervised data classification in single-molecule break junction measurements, demonstrating that this method identifies highly relevant trace classes according to the well-defined and well-visualized internal correlations of the data set. To this end, we investigate single-molecule structures exhibiting double molecular configurations, exploring the role of the leading principal components in the identification of alternative junction evolution trajectories. We show how the proper principal component projections can be applied to separately analyze the high- or low-conductance molecular configurations, which we exploit in 1/f-type noise measurements on bipyridine molecules. This approach untangles the unclear noise evolution of the entire data set, identifying the coupling of the aromatic ring to the electrodes through the π orbitals in two distinct conductance regions, and its subsequent uncoupling as these configurations are stretched.