Single molecule transistor to usher new era of technology

Washington, June 21 (ANI): A group of scientists have created a transistor from just one molecular monolayer, which could pave the way for smaller, faster and more green and sustainable electronic devices.

The molecular integrated circuit was created by a group of chemists and physicists from the Department of Chemistry Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.

The breakthrough was made possible through an innovative use of the two dimensional carbon material graphene.

Kasper Norgaard, an associate professor in chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, believes that the first advantage of the newly developed graphene chip will be to ease the testing of coming molecular electronic components.

But he is also confident, that it represents a first step towards proper integrated molecular circuits.

The molecular computer chip is a sandwich built with one layer of gold, one of molecular components and one of the extremely thin carbon material graphene.

The molecular transistor in the sandwich is switched on and of using a light impulse so one of the peculiar properties of graphene is highly useful. Even though graphene is made of carbon, it's almost completely translucent.

The research is published online in the prestigious periodical Advanced Materials. (ANI)