Molecule heating in resonant molecular tunnel junctions

Charge transfer in metal/molecule/metal junctions is accompanied by a release of power \textit{IV} which is partly spent to excite molecular vibrations. Resonant tunneling is the major mechanism of molecular conductivity which occurs via electronic charged states of the molecule. Therefore, the major physical quantity, governing the vibrational excitations is the reorganization energy $E_{r}$: the amount of energy $E_{r}$ is released for every electron (hole) tunneling through the molecule. The mechanisms of energy dissipation of molecular vibrations determining molecular temperature are considered and possibilities of their experimental observation are discussed.