Single-molecule electronic wires created

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have created a template for assembling advanced, single-molecule-based electronic components.

University of Pittsburgh researchers said their achievement is a significant step in science's increasing attempts to reduce electronic device circuitry to a single molecule scale to provide smaller, faster, and more energy efficient electronics.

Led by physics Professor Hrvoje Petek, the scientists created a template for assembling molecules over troughs that are only as wide as a single atom of copper, but can be made several times that length, matching wires currently used in computers and other devices. The researchers said the ultra-thin, one-dimensional wires might be able to conduct electricity with minimal loss and thus improve the performance of an electronic device.

Petek said the research pertains to carbon molecules known as fullerenes, but the method can serve as a template for a broad range of organic molecules.

Materials used in contemporary electronics, such as silicon, are inorganic and cannot be miniaturized to be truly one-dimensional, Petek said.

The research, which included scientists from the University of Virginia, is reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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