Room-temperature single-electron transistors with individual alkanedithiol molecules

We present the fabrication and characterizations of single-molecule transistors consisting of individual alkanedithiol molecules. The devices are fabricated by assembling molecules between nanometer-spaced Au electrodes which are first created by the electromigration technique on top of the oxidized Al gate electrode. The measurements at 4.2 K show clear Coulomb blockade behavior with addition energies on the order of several hundred meV. There also exist additional excitations outside the blockaded region. Because of the extremely large addition energies, single-electron tunneling behavior persists even up to room temperature.