Patent ID: 7816665

Claim:
A negative differential resistance (NDR) device comprising: (a) a substrate comprising a conductor material or a semi-conductor material; and (b) a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) disposed on the substrate, wherein the SAM comprises a first electroactive moiety, a linker moiety, and a spacer moiety, the spacer moiety interposed between and defining a tunnel barrier between the electroactive moiety and the substrate and the linker moiety linking the substrate and the spacer moiety, wherein the linker moiety is selected from the group consisting of a thiol, an isocyanide, a carboxylic acid, a sulfonic acid, a phosphonic acid, a hydroxamic acid, an alcohol, an amine, a monochlorosilane, a dichlorosilane, a trichlorosilane, a monoalkoxysilane, a dialkoxysilane, and a trialkoxysilane, (c) wherein the NDR device exhibits negative differential resistance in the presence of a varying applied voltage.