Micro- and Nanopatterning of Spin-Transition Compounds into Logical Structures
The research groups from CNR Italy, led by Dr. Massimiliano Cavallini, and from Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany, led by Dr. Mario Ruben, from the CRP Fun-SMARTs have been able to deposit a Spin-Transition (ST) metal complex by soft lithographic methods into a silicon oxide substrate, which provide a step forward towards the next generation of magnetic storage media.
The complex which has been used is [Iron(II)bis(1,10-phenantroline)]cis-bis(thiocyanato) which exhibits a LS<-> HS (-Low Spin-High Spin) transition at 176 K. The complex self-organise by forming both micro- and nano-wires, depending on the technique used. The striking fact is that the nanostructures thus formed are crystalline hence because most of the properties of ST compounds depend on the crystallinity, these materials can be used as molecular devices for storage domains. Moreover they have been able to mold films of the ST complex into a logic pattern, which had been transferred from a replica of a recorded compact disk.
These results have been recently published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 8596-8600.
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