New Molecular Switches!

We've seen molecular switches in the past, which were a first step along the path to true practical nanotech. The article clipped below is huge news; it indicates that we're going to be able to mass-produce and link these chips in much the same way that we work with silicon and transistors today.

clipped from www.technologyreview.com IBM scientists have created a novel molecular switch that is able to turn on and off without altering its shape. The problem is that changing the molecule's shape makes it difficult to link them together as switches. If a researcher wants to make something more complicated than just a molecular switch, such as a logic gate, then he or she has to be able to couple them together Liljeroth and his colleagues exploit atomic changes that take place at the center of a molecular cage, which does not alter the molecule's overall structure. In the latest issue of the journal Science, the group shows how its molecule can be electrically switched on and off. The researchers also demonstrate how three of these molecules can be made to work together when placed next to one another. "Injecting a current in one molecule will switch the state of another," says Liljeroth.