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Named
Breakthrough
of the Year 2001 by Science magazine,
the wiring of the first ever molecular-scale circuits pushes the
fundamental limits of trends in computing, raising hopes for a brave
new world of nano-electronics.
Computer chips containing components at molecular scale could accommodate
billions of transistors, compared to some 40 million for today's
state-of-the-art chips. As the Science article noted,
"If researchers can wire these circuits into intricate computer
chip architecture, this new generation of molecular electronics
will undoubtedly provide computing power to launch scientific breakthroughs
for decades."
The goal of an NSF-supported project at the University of California,
Los Angeles (UCLA) is to train young scientists for the rapidly
approaching age of nanotechnology. Led by James Heath and
Fraser Stoddart, a UCLA research group first created a rudimentary
molecular switch in 1999. By 2001, they and four other labs
had succeeded in hooking up such devices into complex molecular
circuits capable of carrying out actual computing operations.
The UCLA team
used molecules called rotaxanes
to serve as molecular transistors at circuit junctions. Each
junction in the circuit, composed of polysilicon (shown above in
yellow) and titanium/aluminum wires, contains about 5,000 molecules
and occupies an area of 7,000 square nanometers.
For more information,
contact Fraser Stoddart at stoddart@chem.ucla.edu,
(310) 206-7078.
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