Scanning tunneling microscopy experiments on single molecular landers.

Molecular landers are molecules comprising of a central rigid molecular wire maintained above a metallic surface by organic spacers, which allows specific ultrahigh vacuum-scanning tunneling microscopy experiments to be performed at the single-molecule level. The understanding of the molecule-surface interactions, intramolecular mechanics, and the possibility to perform extremely precise tip-induced manipulation permit these molecules to be brought in contact with a nanoelectrode and the resulting electronic interaction to be analyzed in well controlled conditions.