Theory of local heating in single molecular bridge junctions

Inelastic scattering of conduction electrons due to vibronic coupling gives arise local heating of the single molecular junction. We have discussed the problem based on a self-consistent theory treating inelastic heat generation and heat diffusion/transport to thermalized electrodes on equal footing, including both electron-phonon coupling and electron correlation effects. We found that the local heating is suppressed by reducing phonon damping either via a large electronic energy gap or electron correlation. Theoretical results were compared with available experimental results in literature, especially the case of alkanedithiol single-molecular scanning tunneling microscope (STM) break junctions.