Molecular logic circuits

Miniaturization has been an essential ingredient in the outstanding progress of information technology over the post fifty years. The next, perhaps ultimate, limit of miniaturization is that of molecules, which are the smallest entities with definite size, shape, and properties. Recently, great effort has been devoted to design and investigate molecular-level systems that are capable of transferring, processing, and storing information in binary form. Some of these nanoscale devices can, in fact, perform logic operations of remarkable complexity. This research-although for from being transferred into technology-is attracting interest, as the nanometer realm seems to be out of reach for the top-down techniques currently available to microelectronics industry. More-over, such,, studies introduce new concepts in the old field of chemistry and stimulate the ingenuity of researchers engaged in the bottom-up approach to nanotechnology.