Moletronics - Life After Silicon

A chance meeting between Hewlett-Packard physicist Phil Kuekes and chemist James Heath of the University of California at Los Angeles may lead to the creation of a new breed of computers 100 billion times faster than today's fastest PCs ... so they say.

These new computers would be based on switches - or transistors - no larger than a molecule in size. The Hewlett-UCLA team is only one of six teams that the Federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has working on a new type of molecular-scale electronics, also known as moletronics.

The researchers have developed a tiny, molecular "logic gates" that are the building blocks of a semiconductor chip. The researchers used chemicals to move molecules with the required electrical characteristics into specific formations. They then connected these molecular structures to wires and manipulated them to perform the same functions as silicon logic gates. By connecting multiple logic gates, the researchers predict that, in the future, all the functions of a semiconductor chip will be able to be performed on a molecular scale.

The obvious connection with the small furry little animals is no coincidence as it has been adopted as the official mascot by the researchers ... due, of course, to the similarity in feeding habits, nocturnal behaviour and their ability to completely screw up a perfectly good patch of green grass.

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