  We report low-temperature transport measurements through a double quantum dot
device in a configuration where one of the quantum dots is coupled directly to
the source and drain electrodes, and a second (side-coupled) quantum dot
interacts electrostatically and via tunneling to the first one. As the interdot
coupling increases, a crossover from weak to strong interdot tunneling is
observed in the charge stability diagrams that present a complex pattern with
mergings and apparent crossings of Coulomb blockade peaks. While the weak
coupling regime can be understood by considering a single level on each dot, in
the intermediate and strong coupling regimes, the multi-level nature of the
quantum dots needs to be taken into account. Surprisingly, both in the strong
and weak coupling regimes, the double quantum dot states are mainly localized
on each dot for most values of the parameters. Only in an intermediate coupling
regime the device presents a single dot-like molecular behavior as the
molecular wavefunctions weight is evenly distributed between the quantum dots.
At temperatures larger than the interdot coupling energy scale, a loss of
coherence of the molecular states is observed.
