Molecular Electronics: From Basic Chemical Principles to Photosynthesis to Steady-State Through-Molecule Conductivity to Computer Architectures

Abstract

Molecular electronics offers many possibilities for the development of electronic devices beyond the limit of silicon technology. Its basic ideas and history are reviewed, and a central aspect of the delocalization of electrons across molecules and junctions is examined. Analogies between key processes affecting steady-state through-molecule conduction and equilibrium geometric and spectroscopic properties of paradigm molecules, such as hydrogen, ammonia, benzene, and the Creutz–Taube ion are drawn, and the mechanisms by which control can be exerted over molecular-electronic processes during biological photosynthesis are examined. Ab initio molecular dynamics and simulations of conductivity are then presented for carbon nanotube flanged to gold(111), and device characteristics are calculated for a molecular shift register clocked by two gold electrodes.