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A

SEMINAR REPORT
ON

MOLETRONICS

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering

In
Electronics and Communication Engineering

Guided By Submitted By
Sh. Manu T S Rohit Dadheech
(Assistant Professor) (Enrollment No. 15R/070070)

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering


M.B.M. Engineering College
Jai Narain Vyas University,
Jodhpur-342011
2018-19

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this seminar report titled MOLETRONICS has been submitted by
ROHIT DADHEECH (15R/070070) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Bachelor of Engineering in ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
of the MBM Engineering College, JNVU, Jodhpur during the academic year 2018-19 and is a
record of study applied by him/her under my guidance and supervision.

______________________
Sh.Manu T S
Assistant Professor
Date: Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering,
M.B.M Engineering College, Jodhpur

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me great pleasure to present my seminar report on Moletronics.


No work ,However big or small has been done without the contributions of others.

It would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Sh. Manu T S


who give me their valuable suggestions, motivation and the direction to proceed at every
stage.Their kind guidance showed us the path of life and is unforgettable.They extended
towards their valuable guidance, indispensable help and inspiration at times in appreciation I
offer them my sincere geratitude.

I would like to thank Dr. Rajesh Bhadada (Head of department of Electronics


And Communication Engineering) without whose support ,co-operation and guidance this
seminar would have not been a success.

Also I would like to thank to Mr. Pulkit Arora for his support or help during the
preparation of the seminar.

Last but not least we would like to thank the Department of Electronics And
Communication Engineering for providing me with the facilities to lab and all the staff
members of department, it would have been impossible for me to complete my project
without their valuable guidance & prompt cooperation.

I have tried my level best to make this seminar report error free, but I regret for
error, if any.

________________________
Rohit Dadheech
Enrollment No.:- 15R/070070
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering,
M.B.M Engineering College, Jodhpur

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Table of Content
Contents Page No.

Certificate 2

Acknowledgement 3

Table of content 4

Abstract 6

List of Figures 7

List of Abbreviations 8

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Chapter 1: Introduction 9

1.1 Description 9

1.2 Moore’s Law 9

1.3 History 13

1.4 Why Moletronics ? 14

Chapter 2: About Moletronics 16

2.1 The Working Principle of Moletronics 16

2.2 Advantages 18

2.3 Disadvantages 19

Chapter 3: Moletronics Devices 21

3.1 Classification 21

3.2 Molecular Electronic Devices 25

3.3 Characteristic of Molecular Devices 27

3.4 Molecular electronic Circuit 28

Chapter 4 : Conclusion And Future Scope 30

4.1 The Future Scope of Moletronic 30

4.2 Conclusion 31

References 32

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ABSTRACT

Moletronics or more precisely known Molecular Electronics is the application of molecular


building blocks for IC fabrication of electronic components. The electronic component can
be of active(e.g Transisters) and passive(e.g Resistors).The Moletronics gives an idea that
individual elements of computers could be formed using a single molecule of substance.
This would permits huge increases in the density of circuits on a chip and allow them to run
as much faster and cooler. The main advantage of introducing this technology is size
reduction.

Molecular based electronics can overcome the fundamental physical and economic issues
limiting Silicon(Si) technology. Here, molecules will be used in place of semiconductor,
creating electronic circuit small that their size will be measured in atoms. By using molecular
scale technology, we can realize molecular AND gates, OR gates, XOR gates etc.
It is an enticing alternative to extend Moore's Law beyond the foreseen limits of small-scale
conventional Si integrated circuits. Therefore , Moletronics is currently a very active
research field in the technical world.

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List of Figures

Fig No. Name of Figure Page No.

1.1 Plot of C.P.U transistor count against 2

date of introduction

1.2 Transistor functions as an switch 3

2.1 Molecular switch 7

3.1 Molecular Wire 10

3.2 Molecular Logic gate 11

4.1 Organic LED 15

4.2 Organic Solar Cell 16

4.3 Molecular Electronic Switch 17

4.4 Structure of Carbon Nanotube 19

4.5 Molecular Electronic Half Adder 20

4.6 Crossbar and Demultiplexers 21

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List of Abbreviations

Abbreviations Full Form

1. Si Silicon
2. IC Integrated Circuit
3. VLSI Very Large Scale Integration
4. ULSI Ultra Large Scale Integration
5. nm nanometer
6. OLED Organic light emitting doide

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CHAPTER - 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Description

Semiconductor integration beyond Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI), through


conventional electronic technology facing some problems with fundamental physical
limitations.

The fabrications of semiconductor devices have so far been guided by the Moore’s Law.
From around 100 transistors on a single silicon chip to the very widely used ULSI technique
which allows over 91,000 transistors, semiconductor fabrication has come a long way. But
the big question was “What after ULSI? Will Moore’s Law cease?” The definite answer to
this is Moletronics. Beyond ULSI, a new technology may become competitive to
semiconductor technology. This new technology is known is as Molecular Electronics.

Conventional Si electronics technology is much indebted to the integrated circuit (IC)


technology. IC technology is one of the important aspects that brought about a revolution in
electronics. With the gradual increased scale of integration, electronics age has passed
through SSI (small scale integration), MSI (medium scale integration), LSI (large scale
integration), and ULSI (ultra large scale integration). These may be respectively classified as
integration technology with 1-12 gates, 12-30 gates, 30-300 gates, 300-10000 gates, and
beyond 10000 gates on a single chip.

1.2 Moore’s Law

The density of IC technology is increasing in pace with Famous Moore’s law of 1965. Till
date, Moore’s law about the doubling of the number of components in an IC every year
holds good. He wrote in his original paper entitled Cramming Moore Components Onto
Integrated Circuit that, the complexity for minimum component costs has increased at the
rate of roughly a factor of 2 per year. Certainly, over the short term, this rate can be
expected to continue, if not to increase. Over the longer term, the rate of increase is a bit
more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe that it will not remain constant for at
least ten more years.

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It is now over 30 years since Moore talked of this so called semiconductor technology. It is
found that IC’s are following his law. But Moore's law is an observational law and not
a physical or natural law. Although the rate held steady from 1975 until around 2012, the
rate was faster during the first decade. In general, it is not logically sound to extrapolate
from the historical growth rate into the indefinite future. For example, the 2010 update to
the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, predicted that growth would
slow around 2013 and in 2015 Gordon Moore foresaw that the rate of progress would
reach saturation: "I see Moore's law dying here in the next decade or so". According to
Intel, the pace of advancement in technology has slowed, starting at the 22nm and
continuing at 14nm size reduction. This advancement will probably continue till 2021and
this has been predicted that shrinking of transistors every two year will reach its maximum
limit to 7nm or 5nm.After this point, Well known Moore’s law will not be followed by IC’s.

Then what will happen after this end ? Will this VLSI or ULSI techniques of semiconductor
IC’s stop ? Is this the end of technology ? The answer of these questions is definitely NO !!
NEVER!!

But beyond ULSI techniques, a new technology is introduced against of semiconductor IC’s
technology. This new technology is known as Molecular electronics.

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For a scaling technology beyond ULSI, prof. Forest Carter put forward a novel idea that
instead using a transistor, a molecule (a single molecule or a small aggregate of molecule)
might be used to represent the two states, namely ON & OFF conditions of digital
electronics. For example, one can use positive spin & negative spin of a molecule to
represent two states of binary logic as ON & OFF conditions respectively.

As in the new concept a molecule rather than a transistor is proposed to be used, the
scaling technology may go to Molecular Scale. It is therefore defined as MSE stated as
Molecular Scale Electronics. MSE is far beyond the ULSI technology in terms of scaling. In
order to augment his postulation Prof. Carter conducted a number of international
conferences on the subject. The outcome of these conferences has been to establish the
field of molecular electronics.

"Single molecules are currently the smallest imaginable components capable


of being integrated into a processor."

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When a beam of light then hits the molecule, it switches from its open to its closed state,
resulting in a flowing current. "For the first time ever we could switch on a single contacted
molecule and prove that this precise molecule becomes a conductor on which we have used
the light beam”. "We have also characterized the molecular switching mechanism in
extremely high detail, which is why I believe that we have succeeded in making an important
step toward a genuine molecular electronic component."

However, as of today, molecular electronics is a broad field. The field is a result of a search
for alternative materials, devices and applications of electronics. The field deals with organic
materials. The field is a challenge but not a replacement for inorganic electronics on
immediate terms. Molecular electronics is a technological challenge to explore the possible
application of organic materials, non-linear optics and biologically important materials in the
field of electronics. Therefore hopes run high for realization of plastic electronic systems, all
optical computers, and chemical or bio-computers with inbuilt thinking functions and
biochips etc.
Molecular electronics, which is a high investment and high-risk field, is at the
same time a highly promising one. High investment and risks are involved in the initial
phases. Under commercial phases the cost molecular systems shall be cheaper. The
prospects of molecular electronics depend on the successful interaction and coordination of
scientists of diverse fields like computer, electronics, physics, chemistry, biology, material
science, etc.

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1.3 History

Study of charge transfer in molecules was advanced in the 1940s by Robert Mulliken and
Albert Szent-Gyorgi in discussion of so-called "donor-acceptor" systems and developed the
study of charge transfer and energy transfer in molecules. Likewise, a 1974 paper from Mark
Ratner and Aviram illustrated a theoretical molecular rectifier.

Fig.1.1 Molecular rectifier

Later, Aviram detailed a single-molecule field-effect transistor in 1988. Further concepts


were proposed by Forrest Carter of the Naval Research Laboratory, including single-
molecule logic gates. He also proposed the single molecule can be used as an switch like a
transistor acts in Digital electronics.

Apart from the Aviram and Ratner proposal, molecular electronics received an initial boost
from the experimental discovery of conducting polymers in the mid-seventies. Before this
date, organic molecules (which form crystals or polymers) were considered insulating or at
best weakly conducting semi-conductors. In 1974, McGinness, Corry, and Proctor reported
the first molecular electronic device in the journal Science. As its active element, this
voltage-controlled switch used melanin, an oxidized mixed polymer of polyacetylene,
polypyrrole, and polyaniline. The "ON" state of this switch exhibited extremely high
conductivity. This device is now in the Smithsonian's collection of historic electronic devices.
As Hush notes, their material also showed

negative differential resistance, "a hallmark of modern advances in molecular


electronics". Melanin is also the first example of a "self-doped" organic semiconductor,
though McGinness also looked at dopants such as diethyamine.

A few years later, in 1977, Shirakawa, Heeger and MacDiarmid rediscovered the potential
high conductivity of oxidized ("doped") polyacetylene, producing a passive highly-
conductive form of polyacetylene. For this discovery and its subsequent development, they

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received the 2000 Nobel prize in physics. Subsequentely, chemists greatly improved the
conductance of conjugated polymers. These findings opened the door to plastic electronics
and optoelectronics, which are beginning to find extensive commercial application.

1.4 Why Moletronics ?

The future of Moore’s Law is not CMOS transistors on silicon. Within 25 years, they will be
as obsolete as the vacuum tube. While this will be a massive disruption to the semiconductor
industry, a larger set of industries depends on continued exponential cost declines in
computational power and storage density. Moore’s Law drives electronics, communications
and computers and has become a primary driver in drug discovery and bioinformatics,
medical imaging and diagnostics. Over time, the lab sciences become information sciences,
and then the speed of iterative simulations accelerates the pace of progress.

There are several reasons why molecular electronics is the next paradigm for Moore’s Law:

1. Size: Molecular electronics has the potential to dramatically extend the


miniaturization that has driven the density and speed advantages of the integrated
circuit (IC) phase of Moore’s Law. For a memorable sense of the massive difference
in scale, consider a single drop of water. There are more molecules in a single drop
of water than all transistors ever built. Think of the transistors in every memory chip
and every processor ever built, worldwide. Sure, water molecules are small, but an
important part of the comparison depends on the 3D volume of a drop. Every IC, in
contrast, is a thin veneer of computation on a thick and inert substrate.

2. Power: One of the reasons that transistors are not stacked into 3D volumes today is that the
silicon would melt. Power per calculation will dominate clock speed as the metric of merit
for the future of computation. The inefficiency of the modern transistor is staggering. The
human brain is ~100 million times more power efficient than our modern
microprocessors. Sure the brain is slow (under a kHz) but it is massively parallel (with 100
trillion synapses between 60 billion neurons), and interconnected in a 3D volume. Stan
Williams, the director of HP’s quantum science research labs, concludes: “it should be
physically possible to do the work of all the computers on Earth today using a single watt of
power.”

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3. Manufacturing Cost: Many of the molecular electronics designs use simple spin coating or
molecular self-assembly of organic compounds. The process complexity is embodied in the
inexpensive synthesized molecular structures, and so they can literally be splashed on to a
prepared silicon wafer. The complexity is not in the deposition or the manufacturing process
or the systems engineering. Biology does not tend to assemble complexity at 1000 degrees
in a high vacuum. It tends to be room temperature or body temperature. In a manufacturing
domain, this opens the possibility of cheap plastic substrates instead of expensive silicon
ingots.

4. Elegance: In addition to these advantages, some of the molecular electronics approaches


offer elegant solutions to non-volatile and inherently digital storage. We go through
unnatural acts with CMOS silicon to get an inherently analog and leaky medium to
approximate a digital and non-volatile abstraction that we depend on for our design
methodology. Many of the molecular electronic approaches are inherently digital and
immune to soft errors, and some are inherently non-volatile.

5. Assembly and recognition: One can exploit specific intermolecular interactions to form
structures by nanoscale self-assembly. Molecular recognition can be used to modify
electronic behavior, providing both switching and sensing capabilities on the single-molecule
scale.

6. Dynamical stereochemistry : Many molecules have multiple distinct stable geometric


structures or isomers (an examples the relaxant molecule in figure 3d, in which a rectangular
slider has two stable binding sites along a linear track). Such geometric isomers can have
distinct optical and electronic properties. For example, the retinal molecule switches
between two stable structures, a process that transduces light into a chemo electrical pulse
and allows vision.

7. Synthetic tailor ability : By choice of composition and geometry, one can extensively vary a
molecule’s transport, binding, optical, and structural properties. The tools of molecular
synthesis are highly developed.

“The advantages render molecules ideal for electronics applications”

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CHAPTER-2

ABOUT MOLETRONICS

2.1 The Working Principle of Moletronics

The basic working principle of moletronics is the same as the conventional silicon fabricated
chips. The main difference is in the workability of the two. While the conventional silicon
chips have shown tremendeous advancement throughout their development from the SSI to
the latest ULSI, moletronics seems to the best when it comes to performance. Thus,
moletronics uses molecular blocks as a substitute to the traditional silicon. Everything else
remains the same in the integrated circuits. Also, to use them as a switch only one electron
is sufficient to either turn ON or OFF of these molecular transistors. To work on moletronics,
molecular components are required as :

Components

1. Molecular Wires

The main electronic component here is the molecular wire. This is a different concept than the use
of conductive polymers. Molecular wires can be infused as conductive polymers, thereby enhancing
their various mechano-electric properties. Molecular wires have a repeating structure which can be
either organic or inorganic in nature. Their structure can be familiarized well with the study of the
Human DNA. These can conduct electricity. These typically have non-linear current-voltage
characteristics and do not behave like ohmic conductors. Their conductance follows the typical
power law as a function of temperature or electric field, whichever is the greater, arising from their
strong one-dimensional character. Their typical diameters are less than three nanometers, while
their lengths may be macroscopic, extending to centimeters or more. Most types of molecular wires
are derived from organic molecules. One naturally occurring molecular wire is DNA.

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Fig.2.1 Molecular wire

These are also called as “nanowires” which should be able to self-assemble to be used in
moletronics. They should have the ability to connect to diverse metal surfaces such as gold
which is extensively used in semiconductor fabrication industries to form the connection
with the outside world. In addition to this, the connectors should have the recognitive
ability.

Molecular Logic gates

The next important component involves the concept of molecular logic gates. To start off
with, molecular logic gate is a molecule that is capable of doing the logical operations as its
bulk electronic counterpart. Its operations are based on one or more physical or chemical
input which send a single output. These molecular logic devices are also termed as
“moleculators”.

For logic gates with a single input, there are four possible output patterns. When the input is
0, the output can be either a 0 or 1. When the input is 1, the output can again be 0 or 1. The
four output bit patterns that can arise corresponds to a specific logic type: PASS 0, YES, NOT
and PASS 1. PASS 0 always outputs s0, whatever the input. PASS 1 always outputs 1,
whatever the input.

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These have advanced so far that now these are capable of computingcombinational and
sequential logical operations. One break-through in this technology is the use of these components
as memory storage devices. Molecular logic gates work with input signals based on chemical
processes and with output signals based on spectroscopy.

Fig.2.2 Molecular Logic gate

These have advanced so far that now these are capable of computing combinational and
sequential logical operations. One break-through in this technology is the use of these
components as memory storage devices. Molecular logic gates work with input signals
based on chemical processes and with output signals based on spectroscopy.

2.2 Advantages of Moletronics


Molecular structures are very important in determining the properties of bulk materials,
especially for application as electronic devices. The intrinsic properties of existing inorganic
electronic materials may not be capable of forming a new generation of electronic devices
envisioned, in terms of feature sizes, operation speeds and architectures. However,
electronics based on organic molecules could offer the following advantages:

1.Molecular Size

Molecules are in the nanometer scale between 1 and 100 nm. This scale permits small
devices with more efficient heat dissipation and less overall production cost to be made.

2.Efficiency

One of the reasons that transistors are not stacked into 3D volumes today is that the silicon
would melt. The inefficiency of the modern transistor is staggering. It is much less efficient
at its task than the internal combustion engine. The brain provides an existence proof of
what is possible; it is 100 million times more efficient in power than our best processors.

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Sure it is slow (under a kHz) but it is massively interconnected (with 100 trillion synapses
between 60 billion neurons), and it is folded into a 3D volume. Power per calculation will
dominate clock speed as the metric of merit for the future of computation.

3.Self –Assembly technique of Molecule

One can exploit different intermolecular interactions to form a variety of structures by the
array of self-assembly techniques which are reported in the literature. The scope of
application of the self-assembly technique is only limited by the researcher’s ability to
explore.

4. Manufacturing cost

Many of the molecular electronics designs use simple spin coating or molecular self-
assembly of organic compounds. The process complexity is embodied in the synthesized
molecular structures, and so they can literally be splashed on to a prepared silicon wafer.
The complexity is not in the deposition or the manufacturing process or the systems
engineering. Much of the conceptual difference of nanotech products derives from a
biological metaphor is complexity builds from the bottom up and pivots about
conformational changes, weak bonds, and surfaces. It is not engineered from the top with
precise manipulation and static placement.

5. Low Temperature Manufacturing

Biology does not tend to assemble complexity at 1000 degrees in a high vacuum. It tends to
be room temperature or body temperature. In a manufacturing domain, this opens the
possibility of cheap plastic substrates instead of expensive silicon ingots.

2.3 Disadvantages of Molecular Electronic

Here are some demerits of Molecular Electronic which can stated as :

 Molecular electronics is not at all cost effective. Complete fabricated components


developed by it are quite expensive and their maintenance cost is also high.
 This technology is not easily understandable. For proper knowledge the basic
concepts of nanotechnology and nano electronics must be studied first.
 Difficult error recovery because of high integration at smallest scale, it is hard to
detect the physical error in the device.

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 The components developed because of high manufacturing cost, its components are not
readily available.
Specialized engineers and scientists are required to handle and control the risks factors of
molecular electronics.

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CHAPTER-3

APPLICATION OF MOLETRONICS

3.1 Classification of Moletronics

The classification of moletronics is based on the utility of the molecule. These are illustrated
below with brief differences of :

1. Molecular Material for Electronics

Molecular Materials for Electronics or Organic electronics is a field of materials


science concerning the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of organic
small molecules or polymers that show desirable electronic properties such as conductivity.
Unlike conventional inorganic conductors and semiconductors, organic electronic materials
are constructed from organic (carbon-based) small molecules or polymers using synthetic
strategies developed in the context of organic and polymer chemistry. One of the promised
benefits of organic electronics is their potential low cost compared to traditional inorganic
electronics.

Attractive properties of polymeric conductors include their electrical conductivity that can
be varied by the concentrations of dopants. Relative to metals, they have
mechanical flexibility. Some have high thermal stability.

Typical examples of Molecular Materials for Electronics are :

OLED

An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which


the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light in
response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor is situated between two
electrodes; typically, at least one of these electrodes is transparent. OLEDs are used to
create digital displays in devices such as television screens, computer monitors, portable

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systems such as mobile phones, handheld game consoles. A major area of research is the
development of white OLED devices for use in solid-state lighting applications.

Fig.3.1Flexible OLED Device

There are two main families of OLED are one is based on small molecules and another
employing polymers. Adding mobile ions to an OLED creates a light-emitting
electrochemical cell (LEC) which has a slightly different mode of operation. OLED displays
can use either passive-matrix (PMOLED) or active-matrix (AMOLED) addressing schemes.
Passive matrix OLEDs (PMOLED) uses a simple control scheme in which you control each row
(or line) in the display sequentially whereas active-matrix OLEDs (AMOLED) require a thin-
film transistor backplane to switch each individual pixel on or off, but allow for higher
resolution and larger display sizes.

An OLED display works without a backlight; thus, it can display deep black levels and can
be thinner and lighter than a liquid crystal display (LCD). In low ambient light conditions
(such as a dark room), an OLED screen can achieve a higher contrast ratio than an LCD,
regardless of whether the LCD uses cold cathode fluorescent lamps or an LED backlight.

Organic Solar Cell

An organic solar cell or plastic solar cell is a type of photovoltaic that uses organic
electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small
organic molecules, for light absorption and charge transport to

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produce electricity from sunlight by the photovoltaic effect. An example of an organic
photovoltaic is the polymer solar cell.

Fig.3.2 Organic Solar Cell

The molecules used in organic solar cells are solution-processable at high throughput and
are cheap, resulting in low production costs to fabricate a large volume. Combined with the
flexibility of organic molecules, organic solar cells are potentially cost-effective for
photovoltaic applications. Molecular engineering (e.g. changing the length and functional
group of polymers) can change the band gap, allowing for electronic tunability. The optical
absorption coefficient of organic molecules is high, so a large amount of light can be
absorbed with a small amount of materials, usually on the order of hundreds of
nanometers. The main disadvantages associated with organic photovoltaic cells are
low efficiency, low stability and low strength compared to inorganic photovoltaic cells such
as silicon solar cells.

2. Molecular Scale Electronics

Molecular scale electronics, also called single molecule electronics, is a branch


of nanotechnology that uses single molecules, or nanoscale collections of single molecules,
as electronic components. Because single molecules constitute the smallest stable structures
possible, this miniaturization is the ultimate goal for shrinking electrical circuits.

Conventional electronic devices are traditionally made from bulk materials. Bulk methods
have inherent limits, and are growing increasingly demanding and costly. In single molecule
electronics, the bulk material is replaced by single molecules. The molecules used have
properties that resemble traditional electronic components such as a wire, transistor,
or rectifier.

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Single molecule electronics is an emerging field, and entire electronic circuits
consisting exclusively of molecular sized compounds are still very far from being realized.
However, the continuous demand for more computing power, together with the inherent
limits of the present day lithographic methods make the transition seem unavoidable.
Currently, the focus is on discovering molecules with interesting properties and on finding
ways to obtain reliable and reproducible contacts between the molecular components and the
bulk material of the electrodes.

Molecular Electronics Switch

A molecular switch is a electronics molecule that can be reversibly shifted between two or
more stable states. The molecules may be shifted between the states in response to
environmental stimuli, such as changes in pH, light, temperature, an electric current,
microenvironment, or in the presence of a ligand

Fig.3.3 Molecular switch

In some cases, a combination of stimuli is required. The oldest forms of synthetic molecular
switches are pH indicators, which display distinct colors as a function of pH. Currently
synthetic molecular switches are of interest in the field of nanotechnology for application
in molecular computers or responsive drug delivery systems.

Molecular switches are also important to in biology because many biological functions are
based on it. They are also one of the simplest examples of molecular machines.

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3.2 Molecular Electronics Devices

Molecular electronics has wide range of applications in the work areas of chemistry, physics,
electronics and nano electronics, technology, artificial intelligence and medical equipment. Almost
all the fabricated chips in the intelligent machinery that is used on large scale has molecular
electronic involved in its construction. For example resistors and transistors that are used in
producing electricity, capacitors in space crafts, automation circuits of robots, strategic plant
temperature handlers and CT scan for displaying the infected areas of body.

In the field of chemistry it is used to see the chemical reactions in stimulated models of nuclear
reactors, and also for measuring the acidic and reactive properties of individual element.

Some of these applications of Molecular Electronics are explained below in brief :

Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. These
cylindrical carbon molecules have unusual properties, which are valuable
for nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science and technology.
Owing to the material's exceptional strength and stiffness, nanotubes have been
constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than
for any other material.

In addition, owing to their extraordinary thermal conductivity, mechanical,


and electrical properties, carbon nanotubes find applications as additives to various
structural materials and electronics.

For instance, nanotubes form a tiny portion of the materials in some


primarily carbon fiber like baseball bats, golf clubs, car parts .

Fig.3.4 Structure of Carbon nanotubes

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Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family. Their name is derived from their
long, hollow structure with the walls formed by one-atom-thick sheets of carbon,
called graphene. These sheets are rolled at specific and discrete angles, and the
combination of the rolling angle and radius decides the nanotube properties; for example,
whether the individual nanotube shell is a metal or semiconductor. Nanotubes are
categorized as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs).
Individual nanotubes naturally align themselves into "ropes" held together by vander Waals
forces.

Applied quantum chemistry, specifically, orbital hybridization best describes chemical


bonding in nanotubes. The chemical bonding of nanotubes is composed entirely
of sp2 bonds, similar to those of graphite. These bonds, which are stronger than
the sp3 bonds found in alkanes and diamond, provide nanotubes with their unique strength.
The carbon nanotube is also known as bucky balls. These carbon nanotube structures make
a very conductive wire and are stable in nature.

Molecular Electronic Half Adder

Molecular Electronic Half Adder with a complete set of molecular logic gates, larger
structures can be made that implement higher binary digital functions. An electronic half
adder can be built using Tour wires and molecular AND and XOR gates and measuring only
10 nm x 10 nm. When currents and voltages representing two addends are passed through
the molecular half adder, they will be added electronically.

Fig.3.5 Molecular Half Adder

The half adder has two inputs that split the current introduced so that the current passes
through both of the logic gates regardless of which input receives the current. Results from
the AND and XOR gates are delivered to separate outputs.

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By using an out-of-plane connector structure, an in-plane molecular wire can be passed over
making it possible to connect the gates. Even though the input to each molecular lead is
split, signal loss should not be a problem because the signal is recombined on the output
side of the structure. In our half adder design, a 3-methylene aliphatic chain resistor is
embedded in the output lead that goes to the ground to help minimize signal loss.

3.3 Characteristics of Molecular Devices

The characteristics of Molecular Electronics Devices are given as:

1.Non-linear I-V Behavior

Unlike solid-state electronics, the I-V behavior of a molecular wire is nonlinear. Some
molecular devices will take advantage of this nonlinearity.

2.Energy Dissipation

When electrons move through a molecule, some of their energy can be lost to other electrons
motions and the motion of the nuclei of the molecule. The amount of energy lost depends on
the electronic energy levels of the molecule and how they interact with the molecules.
Depending on the mechanism of conductance, the energy loss can range from very small to
significantly large.

3.Gain in Molecular Electronic Circuits

In large molecular structures deploying molecular devices with power gain, such as
molecular transistors, there will be a need to restore signal loss. Gain is needed in order to
achieve signal isolation, maintain signal-to-noise ratio, and to achieve fan-out.

4.Speed

Energy dissipation relates closely to the speed at which a molecular electronic circuit can
operate. If strong couplings cause the signal-to-noise ratio to dramatically decrease, a greater
total charge flow would be needed to ensure the reading of a bit. This would require more
time. Because of their scale and density, molecular electronic computers may not need to be
faster than semiconductor computers to be highly important. The molecular half-added
described earlier is one million times smaller than one in a Pentium processor.

3.4 Molecular Electronics Circuits

The power of chemical synthesis to design specific and perhaps even useful device behaviors
is rapidly being realized. The ensuing question, what sorts of circuit architectures can best

27
take advantage of molecular electronics, is now receiving quite a bit of attention both from
computer scientists and from experimentalists; progress toward identifying and constructing
working molecular electronics circuitry has advanced quickly. The proposed circuit
architectures have attempted to deal with five key issues:

 scalability to near molecular dimensions; tolerance of manufacturing defects.


 introduction of non-traditional fabrication methods, such as chemically
directed assembly.
 bridging between device densities potentially achievable at the molecular
scale.
 associated with standard lithography.
 fabrication simplicity.
The dominant circuit structure that has arisen from those considerations is the crossbar, 12,
which is essentially an expanded ticktacktoe board, formed from wires and having individual
molecular or molecular-scale devices sandwiched within the junctions. The crossbar is an
intrinsically versatile circuit and is tolerant of manufacturing defects. Both memory and logic
circuits have been demonstrated from molecular electronics and Nano wire crossbars. 13
rapidly developing area of architectural research involves stitching together a patchwork quilt
of different types of crossbars with the goal of configuring an efficient computational
platform.

CROSSBARS AND DEMULTIPLEXERS

Fig.3.6 Crossbar and Demultiplexers

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One of the most attractive architectures for designing molecular-electronics circuits for
computational applications and interfacing them to the macroscopic world is the crossbar. The
general concept is shown on the left, where a sort of patchwork quilt of logic, memory, and signal
routing circuits is laid out. The simplest of these circuits—and one that has been experimentally
demonstrated is a memory circuit.

The memory, shown on the right, consists of two major components. The central crossbar
which has the crossing of16 vertical and 16 horizontal black wires constitutes a 256-bit
memory circuit. Bitable molecular switches are sandwiched at the crossings of the densely
patterned Nano wires, and each junction can store a single bit. Each set of the larger blue
wires is arranged into a binary tree multiplexer. The multiplexers here adopt some
interesting architectural variations that allow them to bridge from the micron or sub micron
scale of the blue wires to the nanometer scale of the black wires.

Each multiplexer consists of four sets of complementary wire pairs, designed to address 24
nano wires. The scaling is logarithmic: 210nanowires, for example, would require only 10
wirehairs for each multiplexer. One wire within each pair has an inverted input; a “0” input,
for example, sends one wire low and its complement high. Along each blue wire is a series
of rectifying connections (gray bars) to the Nano wires; each pair of wires has a
complementary arrangement of connections. When a given address misapplied, the
multiplexer acts as a four-input AND gate so that only when all four inputs are “high” does a
given Nano wire go high. The orange bars indicate how one wire is selected by each
multiplexer. At the upper right is shown more detail for a multiplexer wire that selects a
pattern of four connects followed by four opens. Note that the separation between the
individual contacts is much larger than the pitch of the nano wires; that larger separation
greatly reduces the fabrication demands. The frequencies of the patterns of connections are
important, but not the absolute registry: Each nano wire is uniquely addressable, but the
mapping of addresses to nanowires is not important.

These two characteristics allow the architecture to bridge the micron or submicron length
scales of lithography to the nanometer length scales of molecular electronics and chemical
assembly.

This also illustrates how such a patchwork integrated-circuit architecture might be laid out
and presents some detail on the simplest of the circuit components—a molecular electronic
random access memory. This particular circuit satisfies all five of the key.

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CHAPTER–4

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

4.1 The future Scope of Moletronics

The drive toward yet further miniaturization of silicon-based electronics has led to a
revival of efforts to build devices with molecular-scale organic components. However, the
fundamental challenges of realizing a true molecular electronics technology are daunting.
Controlled fabrication within specified tolerances and its experimental verification are major
issues. Self-assembly schemes based on molecular recognition will be crucial for that task.
Ability to measure electrical properties of organic molecules more accurately and reliably is
paramount in future developments. Fully reproducible measurements of junction
conductance are just beginning to be realized in labs.

Working molecular electronic devices exist today. Research progress is steady and
strong, giving us cause to believe that molecular electronic systems may be practical in five
to ten years. If lithography reaches fundamental physical or economic limits, molecular
electronics may allow us to continue observing Moore’s Law. Regardless, molecular bottom-
up fabrication could give us a much better alternative, whose price would depend mainly on
design and test cost.

Challenges to making this reality are plentiful at every level, some naturally in
physics and chemistry, but many in ICCAD. These include fabricating and integrating devices,
managing their power and timing, finding fault-tolerant and defect-tolerant circuits and
architectures and the test algorithms needed to use them, developing latency-tolerant
circuits and systems, doing defect-aware placement and routing, and designing, verifying
and compiling billion-gate designs and the tools to handle them. Any one of these could
block practical molecular electronics if unsolved.

Many of these are challenges that will be faced regardless of the underlying
technology. Molecular electronics provides a pure and extreme example, and strengthens

30
the case for solving them sooner rather than later. Robust modeling methods are also
necessary in order to bridge the gap between the synthesis and understanding of molecules
in solution and the performance of solid-state molecular devices. In addition, the searching
of fabrication approaches which can couple the densities achievable through lithography
with those achievable through molecular assembly is also a great challenge. Controlling the
properties of molecule-electrode interfaces and constructing molecular-electronic devices
that can exhibit signal gain are also crucial to the development in the field.

4.2 Conclusion

Molecular electronics clearly has the advantage of size. The components of these circuits
are molecules, so the circuit size would inherently range between 1 to 100 nm. Molecular
systems, or systems based on small organic molecules, possess interesting and useful
electronic properties. The rapidly developing area of organic or plastic electronics is based
on these materials. The investigations of molecular systems that have been performed in
the past have been strongly influenced.

Molecular electronics is reaching a stage of trustable and reproducible experiments. This


has lead to a variety of physical and chemical phenomena recently observed for charge
currents owing through molecular junctions, posing new challenges to theory. The potential
application of molecular electronics has already attracted the interest of some large
corporate.

The subject of molecular electronics has moved from mere conjuncture to an experimental
stage. Research in molecular electronics will naturally dominate the next century.
Today is the age of information explosion. Polymer materials have old hopes of rapid
development of improved systems and techniques of computing and communications the
two wings of information technology.

For e.g, polymer optical fiber has a number of advantages over glass fibers like better
conductivity, light weight, higher flexibility is in splicing and insensitivity to stresses etc. All
these show that polymers will play a vital role in the coming years and MSE shall compete
with IC technology which is growing in accordance with Moore’s law prediction.

31
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