Quantum-dot cellular automata

Lu Y, Liu M, Lent C (2007) Molecular quantum-dot cellular automata from molecular structure to circuit dynamics. J Appl Phys 102(3) 034311-034317... 

Following photoinduced electron injection (a) from the Ru or Os, the hole produced (b) resides on the distal Os so that the electron-hole recombination is five orders of magnitude slower than electron injection. Binuclear mixed-valence complexes have been proposed as components in quantum dot cellular automata computational schemes. ... 

Ient93] Lent, C.S., P.D.Tougaw and W.Porod, Bistable saturation in coupled quantum dots for quantum cellular automata, Appl. Phys. Lett. 62 (1993) 714-716. 

Quantum dots (QDs, small conducting regions less than 1 pm in size that can contain from one to a few thousand electrons and have a variety of geometries and dimensions) are a component of the quantum cellular automata (QCA) approach to molecular computing64 while quantum islands (QIs) are wider versions of QDs that have similar characteristics. If one places four QDs in a square array to form a QCA, such that the electrons can tunnel betweens QDs but cannot leave the array, then Coulomb repulsion will force the electrons to occupy QDs on opposite corners of the array. By aligning groups of QCAs, then one could transmit potentials from one end of the line to the other, essentially doing computations. 

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