from gizmag.com
“Researchers from Germany, Japan and the United States have managed to create a tiny, reliable transistor assembled from a single molecule and a dozen additional atoms. The transistor reportedly operates so precisely that it can control the flow of single electrons, paving the way for the next generation of nanomaterials and miniaturized electronics.
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Tiny molecular transistors much smaller than the ones inside our computers (as small as two nanometers) have already been built, but the issue that researchers now face is to find a way to control them in a reliable way. (…)
The transistors of today are built using a top-down approach where bulk silicon is gradually etched into the desired pattern. A molecular transistor, however, must be built from the bottom up, by assembling atoms one by one in a chemistry lab. (…) The device was assembled by taking a crystal of indium arsenide and placing 12 indium atoms laid out in a hexagonal shape on top of it, with a phthalocyanine molecule in the middle.
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