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Molecular NAND Logic Gate with Input of Single Gold Atoms
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Single molecule logic gates based on quantum architectures can overcome several drawbacks of classical and semi-classical molecular electronics circuits, like the exponential decay of the current through the molecular circuit and the intrinsic difficulties of obtaining molecular transistors with a power gain. The concept of quantum Hamiltonian computing (QHC) represents a new promising strategy to construct universal single molecule Boolean logic gates.
In a new paper published in ACS Nano (DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b06650) scientists from the Single Molecule Machines Group at the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), the Institute for Materials Science at the Technische Universität Dresden, and the CEMES-CNRS in Toulouse demonstrated the working principle of a single molecule NAND logic gate based on a QHC design.
By the combination of solution and on-surface chemistry, it was possible to obtain on a gold surface a novel asymmetric starphene molecule with two long anthracenyl branches (input) and a short naphthyl branch (output). Starting from this molecule, the working principle of a NAND logic gate was demonstrated by selectively contacting single gold atoms by atomic manipulation to the longer branches of the molecule. The output was measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy following the shift in energy of the electronic tunneling resonances at the end of the short branch of the molecule.
The study has been performed in the framework of the EU Project PAMS, oriented to the fabrication of nanosized electronic devices (Planar Atomic and Molecular Scale devices).