Room temperature current modulation in large area electronic junctions of spin crossover thin films

We report large-area (similar to 3 mm(2)), pinhole free crossbar junctions of thin films of the molecular complex [Fe(HB(tz)(3))(2)] displaying spin transition around 336 K. The charge transport in the thinner junctions (10 and 30 nm) occurs by a tunneling mechanism, which is not affected substantially by the spin transition. The thicker junctions (100 and 200 nm) exhibit rectifying behavior and a reproducible drop of their electrical resistance by ca. 65-80% when switching the molecules from the high-spin to the low-spin state. This current modulation is ascribed to a bulk-limited charge transport mechanism via a thermally activated hopping process. The demonstrated possibility of resistance switching in ambient conditions provides appealing prospects for the implementation of molecular spin crossover materials in electronic and spintronic devices. Published by AIP Publishing.