Conformational Control of σ-Interference Effects in the Conductance of Permethylated Oligosilanes

As silicon-based integrated circuits continue to shrink, their molecular characteristics become more pronounced. However, the structure-property relationship of silicon-based molecular junctions remains to be elucidated. Here, an intuitive explanation of the effects of backbone dihedral angles on transport properties in permethylated oligosilanes is presented employing the Ladder C model Hamiltonian combined with nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. Backbone dihedral angles modulate quantum interference (QI), resulting in the change of the transmission coefficient at the Fermi energy (E