Silicon Atomic Quantum Dots Enable Beyond-CMOS Electronics - Field-Coupled Nanocomputing: Paradigms, Progress, and Perspectives - page 47

Fig. 15. A six atom molecule provides an example of the rich electronic structure within
reach when molecules are designed and built in place where and as needed. The atoms
are as close spaced as the lattice allows except between the 2nd and 3rd atoms counting
from the left. Despite the uniformity of the constituents, the particular configuration
results in a richly varied electronic property across the ensemble. Because the electronic
structural maxima are not simply conformal to the positions of the constituent atoms
it is not obvious without foreknowledge how many atoms are involved.
be narrowly constrained too. Precise arrays of absorbers or emitters can be fab-
ricated to achieve collective enhancements. Regular molecules and nano-clusters
can also be used alone or in combination with ASiQD molecules to achieve
designed function.
In addition to the perturbing effect of a nearby charge centre, attached mole-
cules can be placed nearby to source a substantial and highly local multipolar
field having the effect of making nearby ASiQDs more or less electron rich, rather
like the approach of adding functional groups in chemistry. The pronounced effect
of polarizing methoxy groups was experimentally and theoretically described in
[ 25 , 26 ] and is shown in Fig. 14 .
Finally we show as Fig. 15 an example of the kind of rich electronic structure
within reach. In this case 6 ASiQDs were prepared in a line. The atoms are as
close spaced as the lattice allows except between the 2nd and 3rd atoms counting
from the left. Because the electronic structural maxima are not simply conformal
to the positions of the constituent atoms it is not obvious without foreknowledge
how many atoms are involved. A catalogue of such molecules is being prepared
in concert with modeling to extend known structure-property relationships.
For over two decades molecular electronics research has sought to transfer
molecules from a bottle to a surface to achieve desirable circuitry. In practice,
studied configurations between molecules and electrodes are uncertain and vari-
able, as are the properties of the ensemble. While progress toward self-assembling
molecular structures has been made, for the most part the linking forces direct-
ing assembly of molecules have been focused on geometric arrangements without
consideration or control of electrical connectivity. In some instances when single