Incoherent tunneling and heat dissipation in molecular bridges

Simulated IV characteristics and inelastic electron tunneling spectra of octanedithiol chemisorbed on gold electrodes are presented. The geometric and electronic structure is obtained from calculations based on a density functional scheme. A non-equilibrium Green's function formalism is employed to deal with the transport aspect of the problem. Both the IV and the calculated spectra show good agreement with experimental results and suggest further details in the assignment and characterization of such spectra.