Computational circuits, nanoscale

Such controlled motion might become even more important, if one realizes that a bistable, controllable rotaxane might be useful as a nanoscale electronic device. One state would then be the "0", the other would represent the 1" state of one bit of a computer memory. Even if we have a long way to go before using these molecules as reliable functional units in electrical circuits minimized to nanometer dimensions, it seems to be of great promise and such promise demands the intense study of ways to synthesize these molecules and the detailed examination of their properties. 

COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF NANOSCALE LOGIC CIRCUIT MOLECULES... 

Nanotechnology will have a profound impact on industry. Reducing the size of components to nanoscale will mean that the internal circuits of a computer will be etched on a surface too small to be seen by the naked eye. With circuit boards and other components reduced in size, finished products will be similarly reduced in scale. 

Stoddart, Heath, and coworkers developed a 160-kilobit molecular electronic memory circuit fabricated at a density of 10 bits cm (pitch 33 mn memory cell size 0.0011 m ) using a monolayer of bistable [2]rotaxane (Figure 77) with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions as the data storage elements in 2007. This memory circuit has achieved the dimensions of a dynamic random access memory circuit projected to be available by 2020. This proves that it is feasible and promising to use molecules as nanoscale components to create miniaturized electric circuits and develop molecular computing. 

Integrated circuits are the most important component in computers as central processing and high-density memory units. They consist of multilayer structures made by repeated deposition of thin layers. Lithography is applied to each layer to form micro- and nanoscale three-dimensional circuits. 

---