Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
molecular electronics
molecules
having several
stable states
carbon nanotubes
information-processing
and memory devices
information-processing
devices based on
molecular
quantum dots
the hole burning
effect in optical
spectra
electrochemical
sensors
memory devices
based on
molecules having several
stable states
liquid crystals
polymeric materials
protein
bacteriorhodopsin
DNA-computing
organic conductors
and superconductors
Fig. 3.1 Main directions of molecular electronics
data pumps will need to be developed. These possible advantages are all very
significant. However, the technical barriers which now appear to limit the utility
of such devices must be overcome. The decade of the 1980s should be the time
where chemists, physicist, and engineers will begin to become sensitive to the
possibility of useful switching devices at the molecular level.”
Interest in the practical use of molecular systems affected not only the field of
computer technology. Over the last decades of the past century, a new area of
research called “molecular electronics” emerged. Figure
3.1
gives an overview of
its main directions, and there are review articles and topics dedicated to
it. Therefore in the following only utilization of molecular systems in the comput-
ing and information-logic devices will be considered in detail.
In the end of the past century a number of theoretical studies analyzed the
general principles and suggested ways to design molecular systems suitable for
designing electronic circuits. Several experimental studies confirmed the feasibility
of creating molecular primitives. Let us consider in more depth some of the major
publications of this period, starting with a brief summary of the main theoretical
concepts about the structure of atoms and molecules.
3.1.1 Some Details: Molecular Structure—Electronic Levels
of Atoms and Molecules
The theoretical basis for understanding the structure of molecules and calculation of
their characteristics is constituted by the Schr¨dinger equation:
