Creation of Molecular Transistors First in the World.

A group of scientists have successfully created the first transistors made from single molecules. This team, composed of researchers from Yale University and the Institute of Science and Technology Gwangju in South Korea, published their findings on December 24 in the journal Nature.

The team, including Mark Reed of the Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Engineering & Applied Science at Yale University, showed that the benzene molecule attached to gold contacts can act as like silicon transistors.

The researchers are able to manipulate the energy properties of molecules that differ depending on the voltage they apply through the contact. By manipulating the nature of these energies, they are able to control the flow of unutk through the molecule.

"It's like rolling a ball on the hill, where the ball represents the flow of electricity and high hills represent a different energy properties of molecules," said Reed. "We can add a high hill, by allowing the flow to pass through when in a low state, and stop the flow when the high state." In this case, the team is able to use the molecule in several occasions the same as regular transistors used.

This work was made based on research that has been done previously Reed in the 1990s, which demonstrated that individual molecules can be trapped between the electrical contacts. Since it was, he and Takhee Lee, a former postdoctoral friend and now a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Gwangju, develop some additional techniques for several years that allow them to "see" what happens at the molecular level.

The main key to the components of this invention is able to make electrical contact in a small scale, identifying the ideal molecule for use, and find places where they are placed and how they connect. "There are many benefits of technology and understanding that we wake up in a few years to realize it can happen," said Reed.

There are many advantages to using a molecular computer circuits because the traditional transistor is not possible at such a small scale. But Reed emphasized that this is a scientific breakthrough that is appropriate that the application sekalidan practice, such "molecular computers" are very small and fast - if possible - in the decades to come.

"We do not plan to make next-generation integrated circuits," he said. "But after several years working for the matches on this, we have completed a decades long search and showed that some molecules can act as a transistor."

A group of scientists have successfully created the first transistors made from single molecules. This team, composed of researchers from Yale University and the Institute of Science and Technology Gwangju in South Korea, published their findings on December 24 in the journal Nature.

The team, including Mark Reed of the Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Engineering & Applied Science at Yale University, showed that the benzene molecule attached to gold contacts can act as like silicon transistors.

The researchers are able to manipulate the energy properties of molecules that differ depending on the voltage they apply through the contact. By manipulating the nature of these energies, they are able to control the flow of unutk through the molecule.

"It's like rolling a ball on the hill, where the ball represents the flow of electricity and high hills represent a different energy properties of molecules," said Reed. "We can add a high hill, by allowing the flow to pass through when in a low state, and stop the flow when the high state." In this case, the team is able to use the molecule in several occasions the same as regular transistors used.

This work was made based on research that has been done previously Reed in the 1990s, which demonstrated that individual molecules can be trapped between the electrical contacts. Since it was, he and Takhee Lee, a former postdoctoral friend and now a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Gwangju, develop some additional techniques for several years that allow them to "see" what happens at the molecular level.

The main key to the components of this invention is able to make electrical contact in a small scale, identifying the ideal molecule for use, and find places where they are placed and how they connect. "There are many benefits of technology and understanding that we wake up in a few years to realize it can happen," said Reed.

There are many advantages to using a molecular computer circuits because the traditional transistor is not possible at such a small scale. But Reed emphasized that this is a scientific breakthrough that is appropriate that the application sekalidan practice, such "molecular computers" are very small and fast - if possible - in the decades to come.

"We do not plan to make next-generation integrated circuits," he said. "But after several years working for the matches on this, we have completed a decades long search and showed that some molecules can act as a transistor."