Originally published June 15 2005
Scientist discover ways to use molecule as a transistor
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The San Fransisco Chronicle discusses nanotech possibilities for molecular transistors, atomic scale devices that could be the wave of the future for computers.
Researchers at the University of Alberta are reporting a breakthrough in the development of molecular transistors, devices that function on the atomic scale and could lead to a quantum leap in computer miniaturization.
The results of the work by a team led by Robert Wolkow, a physics professor at the university and the program leader for Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology, are being published today in the journal Nature.
Wolkow said his team demonstrated that a molecule could be controllably charged by a single atom while all adjacent atoms remained neutral.
The molecule thus becomes a nanotech version, Wolkow said, of a common transistor -- the device used to control the flow of electricity in virtually all electronic equipment.
The natural electrostatic field from a single silicon atom is permitted to flow through a hydrocarbon molecule bonded to a silicon crystal substrate.
One end of the molecule is the "in" electrode, and the other is the "out" electrode; the electricity is then conducted through the hydrocarbon molecule to the tip of a hovering electron tunneling microscope.
The microscope tip is the "controlling" electrode -- the on/off switch.
Each silicon atom was thus capped with a hydrogen atom.
The researchers then removed the hydrogen cap from a single silicon atom with the tip of the microscope; the hydrogen remained on all the silicon atoms in the surrounding substrate.
The switch can be manipulated by moving the microscope tip, changing the voltage of the silicon substrate or through the use of chemicals, said Wolkow.
1 A silicon crystal substrate was exposed to hydrogen gas, capping each silicon atom with a hydrogen atom.
When the hydrogen cap was removed from a single atom, the atom emitted an electric charge.
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