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First baby steps toward molecular electronics

NANOTECH • Many view molecular electronics as the technology that one day will replace silicon-based circuits. Researchers are in fact investigating the electrical properties of a number of molecules, but no practical molecular circuits had been demonstrated until recently. Now two groups have announced that they have created functioning logic circuits with nanotubes. Among the many developments in molecular electronics, these nanotube results promise the most significant success, particularly for “denser and denser integration,” according to James C. Ellenbogen, principal scientist of the Nanosystems Group at Mitre Corp., in McLean, Va. The largest known of all the molecules, carbon nanotubes are made up of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal patterns resembling rolled-up chicken wire. They are about 1 nanometer thick and up to 1 millimeter long and can contain millions of atoms. When placed over an insulated gate electrode, they function as fieldeffect transistors: a current passing through the nanotube can be controlled if a voltage is applied to the gate [see artist’s rendering, above].