A Potential Interconnection Method in Molecular Electronics
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A Potential Interconnection Method in Molecular Electronics
Meng Tao Institute for Micromanufacturing and Department of Electrical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272, U.S.A. [email protected] ABSTRACT A method to electrically connect molecular devices is proposed, which has the potential to develop into an interconnection technology for 3-dimensional molecular electronic circuits. The method is based on electric-bias-induced polarization and electric-pulse-induced chemical reactions. Two molecules to be connected are oppositely biased to induce opposite charges in them. The opposite charges will create electrostatic attraction that pulls together or aligns the two molecules. An electric pulse is then applied across the two molecules to trigger a chemical linking reaction between them. The electric pulse overcomes the activation energy for such a reaction. Chemical linking reactions to produce conjugated molecular chains are proposed for several conjugated molecules, such as phenylene, ethylene, and acetylene based molecules, with different end groups, such as phenyl and acetyl groups. Applications of this method in assembling 3-terminal molecular devices and 3-dimesional molecular electronic circuits are speculated. Major challenges in realizing this interconnection method are also outlined. INTRODUCTION Compared to microelectronics, molecular electronics is still in its infancy as microelectronics in the 1940’s when the first transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories. The next major development in microelectronics was in the 1950’s when the first integrated circuit (IC) was invented at Texas Instruments, which facilitated the interconnection of millions of microelectronic devices in an economic, manufacturable, and scalable way. This interconnection technology, along with device downscaling, has led to the advent of ultra-large scale integration, which is the hardware for the information revolution as we witness today. The research in molecular electronics has mainly focused on molecular devices – understanding the electrical properties of molecules and developing molecules with specific logic/memory functions [1]. For example, electrical conductance through single phenylene-based molecules with thiol end groups has been measured [2,3]. Electrical rectification has been observed in phenylene-based molecules bridged between Au and Ti electrodes [4], which is believed to arise from asymmetric contact potentials on the molecules. Through-molecule rectification was first proposed in 1974 for molecules consisting of a donor π system and an acceptor π system separated by a σ-bonded tunneling bridge [5], which was confirmed in the hexadecylquinolinium tricyanoquinodimethanide molecule in 1997 [6]. Molecular switches and molecular memories were recently demonstrated in phenylene-based molecules [1]. To bring molecular electronics to life, the research has to address the interconnection technology, i.e. a method or methods to connect these molecular-scale devices into circuits. In all the molecu
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