Miniaturising electronics to the nanoscale

An Mp3 player with a one million gigabyte memory capacity could soon be a reality. A team of scientists led by the University of Glasgow, working alongside colleagues at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington, have successfully created a new type of molecular device that has the potential to dramatically increase the storage capacity in electronic devices. The full paper on this research has been published (30th March) in the scientific publication, Nature nanotechnology.

SRS at Daresbury Laboratory
Credit: Daresbury Laboratory

As the demand for the miniaturisation of gadgets meets with the quest for infinitely larger memories, the critical limitations are those posed by the traditional silicon chip. Using X-rays at the Daresbury Laboratory’s synchrotron light source (SRS), this team of scientists have formed a totally new type of molecular switch using nanoparticles, paving the way for a new generation of devices and applications.

The switching ability is controlled by taking these nanoparticles, a millionth of a millimetre in size, and placing them onto a gold or carbon surface, bridging the gap between traditional semi-conductor based devices and components for nanoscale plastic electronics. This facilitates a move away from silicon towards carbon-based electronics, which are much easier to manipulate and more flexible both physically and technologically.

The key advantage of this molecule-size switch is information storage and the increased transistor density compared to that of traditional semi-conductors. For example, this molecule size switch would lead to an increase in data storage to a million gigabytes per square inch, an increase on current memory capabilities of around 150,000 times. If the switch was used to form molecular- based transistors then the number of transistors per chip could grow from today’s 200 million to over 1 billion per chip.

The research shows conceptually that this huge gain in nanoscale electronics is possible. By building transistors from molecules, the idea is to build devices from “the bottom up”, making them easier to build and manipulate. This means that the smallest mobile phone could have the equivalent memory of the most powerful personal computer.

Dr Vin Dhanak, a research scientist at Daresbury Laboratory said:”This research shows that the potential is there for your future iPod to have hundreds of thousands times more capacity to store music and video than currently possible. As in the case with other molecular based devices, such as carbon nanotubes, the challenge we are faced with now is in resolving fabrication issues.”

Notes for editors

This research paper (link opens in a new window) has been published as an advance online publication.

‘Reversible electron-transfer reactions within a nanoscale metal oxide cage mediated by metallic substrates’.

Christopher Fleming, De-Liang Long, Nicola McMillan, Jacqueline Johnston, Nicolas Bovet, Vin Dhanak, Nikolaj Gadegaeerd, Paul Kogerler, Leroy Cronin and Malcolm Kadodwala.

Paper reference: doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.66

Image and caption

• Image - The synchrotron light source (SRS) at STFC Daresbury Laboratory

Images are available upon request – please contact Wendy Taylor.

Contacts

For further information contact:

• Wendy Taylor - MCIPR
  Press Officer
  STFC Daresbury Laboratory
  Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus
  Daresbury, Warrington
  Cheshire, WA4 4AD
  Tel: + 44 (0)1925 603232
  Fax: + 44 (0)1925 603195
  
  

University of Glasgow contact details:

• Martin Shannon
  Media Relations Officer
  Corporate Communications
  University of Glasgow
  3 The Square, University Avenue
  Glasgow, G12 8QQ
  Tel: + 44 (0)141 3308593
  Fax: + 44 (0)141 3305643
  

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