Last October, the nanotechnologist Jan Hendrik Schön was accused of fraud. Jeong-O Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at the TU%s Nanoscience department, was involved in trying to reproduce Schön’s work.
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Jan Hendrik Schön published a number of breakthroughs in the field of organic molecules (polymers) behaving as transistors (electronic devices that can switch and amplify currents). Schön was working at the prestigious Bell Laboratories, in New Jersey, USA, when a research committee studied 16 of his 25 scientific papers and concluded his findings were fraudulent. South-Korean Jeong-O Lee and her colleagues at the TU’s Nanoscience department recreated the Schön study in which he claimed to have observed transistor-like behavior in a one molecule thick layer sandwiched between two thin electrodes of gold. Schon’s findings suggested that the size of electrical components, such as transistors and sensors, could be reduced. Meanwhile, another research group at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center attempted to recreate transistor behavior in organic material. Both groups drew the same conclusion: the devices were unreliable.
When Schön’s fraudulent papers first appeared in September 2001, Jeong-O Lee spent six months trying, in vain, to reproduce Schön’s devices.
Jeong-O Lee: “When Schön first presented his results, it seemed like a major breakthrough in the use of molecules for electronics. But we didn’t completely understand how the devices worked. The molecules were much too short to function by the conventional field-effect mechanism. Yet, Bell Laboratories had such a good reputation that this data had to be taken seriously. It was clear that either a new physical mechanism had been found or a scientific giant had stumbled badly. It was important to get to the bottom of this issue.”
You and your Austrian colleague Günther Lientschnig tested more than 1000 devices, almost all of which short-circuited.
Jeong-O Lee: “In contrast to the Schön’s results, we observed much lower currents, less reproducibility, and no transistor action in the devices.”
What could such devices be used for?
Jeong-O Lee: ,,In molecular electronics, electrical components such as transistors, memory elements, light-emitting diodes, and sensors are fabricated by chemical synthesis and then assembled into circuits. This has tremendous potential
for making circuits more cheaply than is now possible. Using chemical synthesis, large numbers of electronic components can be made with practically atomic precision. Once cheap circuits are developed, they’ll be used everywhere: computers, displays, memories, medical sensors, etc.”
Does nanoscience now have bad name because of this fraud case?
Jeong-O Lee: “I think it’s a really sad story for all scientists, and of course also for those working in molecular electronics. It might give the wrong impression about this research field and I think some researchers have had problems getting research funding. For many people, Schön’s fraud was a huge blow. Fortunately, there are still so many good scientists that we can go on. I still believe that molecular electronics will play an important role in future nanotechnologies.”
How can fraud in the scientific world be prevented?
Jeong-O Lee: “It can’t. Fraud can happen in any research group. Therefore, I think there’s a role here for the co-authors and supervisors. In Schön’s case, they where responsible too. The only good way to test the veracity of a result is to independently reproduce it.”
Since the fraud case, has your supervisor become stricter?
Jeong-O Lee: “Professor Cees Dekker was already strict! We must always show him our results again and again to prove the reproducibility of our work.
After all, something has come out this fraud case. Before I sent my scientific paper to Nano Letters for publication, I received really helpful comments on it, and my paper was accepted immediately.”
Last October, the nanotechnologist Jan Hendrik Schön was accused of fraud. Jeong-O Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at the TU%s Nanoscience department, was involved in trying to reproduce Schön’s work.
Jan Hendrik Schön published a number of breakthroughs in the field of organic molecules (polymers) behaving as transistors (electronic devices that can switch and amplify currents). Schön was working at the prestigious Bell Laboratories, in New Jersey, USA, when a research committee studied 16 of his 25 scientific papers and concluded his findings were fraudulent. South-Korean Jeong-O Lee and her colleagues at the TU’s Nanoscience department recreated the Schön study in which he claimed to have observed transistor-like behavior in a one molecule thick layer sandwiched between two thin electrodes of gold. Schon’s findings suggested that the size of electrical components, such as transistors and sensors, could be reduced. Meanwhile, another research group at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center attempted to recreate transistor behavior in organic material. Both groups drew the same conclusion: the devices were unreliable.
When Schön’s fraudulent papers first appeared in September 2001, Jeong-O Lee spent six months trying, in vain, to reproduce Schön’s devices.
Jeong-O Lee: “When Schön first presented his results, it seemed like a major breakthrough in the use of molecules for electronics. But we didn’t completely understand how the devices worked. The molecules were much too short to function by the conventional field-effect mechanism. Yet, Bell Laboratories had such a good reputation that this data had to be taken seriously. It was clear that either a new physical mechanism had been found or a scientific giant had stumbled badly. It was important to get to the bottom of this issue.”
You and your Austrian colleague Günther Lientschnig tested more than 1000 devices, almost all of which short-circuited.
Jeong-O Lee: “In contrast to the Schön’s results, we observed much lower currents, less reproducibility, and no transistor action in the devices.”
What could such devices be used for?
Jeong-O Lee: ,,In molecular electronics, electrical components such as transistors, memory elements, light-emitting diodes, and sensors are fabricated by chemical synthesis and then assembled into circuits. This has tremendous potential
for making circuits more cheaply than is now possible. Using chemical synthesis, large numbers of electronic components can be made with practically atomic precision. Once cheap circuits are developed, they’ll be used everywhere: computers, displays, memories, medical sensors, etc.”
Does nanoscience now have bad name because of this fraud case?
Jeong-O Lee: “I think it’s a really sad story for all scientists, and of course also for those working in molecular electronics. It might give the wrong impression about this research field and I think some researchers have had problems getting research funding. For many people, Schön’s fraud was a huge blow. Fortunately, there are still so many good scientists that we can go on. I still believe that molecular electronics will play an important role in future nanotechnologies.”
How can fraud in the scientific world be prevented?
Jeong-O Lee: “It can’t. Fraud can happen in any research group. Therefore, I think there’s a role here for the co-authors and supervisors. In Schön’s case, they where responsible too. The only good way to test the veracity of a result is to independently reproduce it.”
Since the fraud case, has your supervisor become stricter?
Jeong-O Lee: “Professor Cees Dekker was already strict! We must always show him our results again and again to prove the reproducibility of our work.
After all, something has come out this fraud case. Before I sent my scientific paper to Nano Letters for publication, I received really helpful comments on it, and my paper was accepted immediately.”
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