Nanoscale Mapping of Molecular Vibrational Modes via Vibrational Noise Spectroscopy

We have developed a "vibrational noise spectroscopy (VNS)" method to identify and map vibrational modes of molecular wires on a solid substrate. In the method, electrical-noises generated in molecules on a conducting substrate were measured using a conducting atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a nanoresolution. We found that the bias voltage applied to the conducting AFM probe can stimulate specific vibrational modes of measured molecules, resulting in enhanced electrical noises. Thus, by analyzing noise-voltage spectra, we could identify various vibrational modes of the molecular wires on the substrates. Further, we could image the distribution of vibrational modes on molecule patterns on the substrates. In addition, we found that VNS imaging data could be further analyzed to quantitatively estimate the density of a specific vibrational mode in the layers of different molecular species. The VNS method allows one to measure molecular vibrational modes under ambient conditions with a nanoresolution, and thus it can be a powerful tool for nanoscale electronics and materials researches in general.