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Single Molecule Transistor A Reality

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the talking-fruit-still-vapor dept.

Petersko writes "A team from the University of Alberta has proven for the first time that a single molecule can switch electrical currents off and on, a puzzle that scientists worldwide have been trying to crack for decades. The finding could revolutionize the field of electronics, providing a leap ahead for everything from computers to batteries to medical equipment."

6 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. but how fast is it? by LiquidEric · · Score: 5, Funny

    It seems if it were a C8H10N4O2 molecule it would switch much faster.

  2. Really slow device by Husgaard · · Score: 4, Informative
    The researcher admits to that: "It takes us on the order of minutes to change conditions that make current go or not, so for any computer technology, this thing is today impractical."

    Still I think this is very interesting news. This is very early research. The speed will probably be improved, and the smaller dimensions of single-molecyle transistors can give space for more hardware to compensate for the speed.

  3. If you don't know... by Ghoser777 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I believe that's the molecular structure for caffeine.

    --
    James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
  4. Kind of mediocre article by ZorbaTHut · · Score: 4, Funny

    So efficient is this potential new technology, said Wolkow, that "the question now about the battery life in your laptop would go away. Your battery today would run your computer all week or all month instead of three to four hours."

    Of course, by the time we *can* build CPUs with this technology, we'll be able to build the equivalent of your current laptop into a watch or a cellphone - and the new generation of molecular-CPU laptops will be the same size, massively more powerful, and run for three to four hours. Doh.

    Not only that, but because the microelectronics could eventually be made out of molecules, some computer parts could be biodegradable since molecules can be broken down into small bits.

    "Made out of molecules"? What do you think they're made out of now? Rainbows and unicorns?

    That said, this is damn cool. Miniturization is unstoppable! (At least until these molecular transistors become used in everything - I'm not quite sure where we'll go from there.)

    --
    Breaking Into the Industry - A development log about starting a game studio.
  5. Cool, but NOT Revolutionary by ghutchis · · Score: 4, Informative

    I work in the field of molecular electronics -- I'm sorry, but this doesn't sounds "revolutionary."

    It's hard to comment before I've read the article, but there are a lot of other, very reliable single-molecule transistor experiments. In 2002, Nature called it a "discovery of the year." (Sorry, can't find the URL right now.)

    There have been pretty good single-molecule transistor measurements in other groups since then.

    Granted, if they're able to image the single molecular wire, that's a solid advance over other techniques. But it's hardly the solution to a 20-year old puzzle.

    (By the way, it's more like 30 years since it was shown how a molecule could function as a switch. The first paper on the subject was published in 1973.)

    -Geoff

  6. Rainbows and Unicorns by ghutchis · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Made out of molecules"? What do you think they're made out of now? Rainbows and unicorns?

    Chips aren't made out of molecules. Current semiconductors are made out of various forms of silicon crystal.

    That's a lattice -- there aren't individual "silicon molecules" anywhere in there.

    Just FYI.