Survey of Nanoscale Digital System Technology

The AAAS journal Science chose Nanocircuits as its Breakthrough of the Year for 2001 [27]. Last year’s ICCAD keynote speech and evening panel were on Nanotechnology and Information [16]. Exciting results in basic research on molecular-scale electronic devices and interconnects are being reported with ever-greater frequency. Self-assembling digital systems with billions of components may be an engineering possibility in this decade. That would be just in time, as silicon photolithography sooner or later will reach physical and financial limits. Such a shift in electronic technology would be at least as profound as the shift from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits. This paper presents a survey of current research on molecular-scale electronic devices and interconnects, and on early explorations into molecular-scale digital systems.