Molecular wires (sometimes called molecular nanowires) are molecular-scale objects which conduct electrical current. They are the fundamental building blocks for molecular electronic devices. Their typical diameters are less than three nanometers, while their lengths may be macroscopic, extending to centimeters or more.

Unlike the more familiar nanowires (which are crystals), molecular nanowires are composed of repeating molecular units, which may be organic (e.g. DNA) or inorganic (e.g. Mo₆S_9-xI_x). Molecular nanowires often aggregate in solution into bundles.

Fig. 1 presents images of triphenylene molecules spincast from hexane onto a Si/SiO₂ substrate. A very low concentration solution was used to get a submonolayer. The molecules stack to form fibers due to strong pi-pi interactions between benzenes in the core to form molecular wires. Image (b) obtained using a HI'RES-C probe clearly shows the organic fibers packed together, whereas for the General Purpose probe only one big fiber can be seen.

Molecular-scale objects are delicate samples that require very gentle imaging conditions in tapping mode due to their small size and weak adhesion to the substrate. General shape and average dimensions of the particles can be acquired using General Purpose tips with curvature radius of 10 nm. Imaging soft delicate samples requires soft cantilevers.

When fine features need to be resolved, one should use Hi'RES probes on the same cantilevers for further reduction of tip-sample interaction forces and geometrical dilation effects. When using Hi'RES, "light tapping" conditions are preferable, which implies low resonance amplitude (start at 0.2V up to 1.2V) and a set point ratio of about 0.9 to 1. Scan rate should start at below 1 Hz. Scan size should start out at 50 nm (250 nm maximum). See high resolution imaging for details.