Organic Molecules Challenge :: essays research papers

fundamental Molecules ChallengeSilicons Reign as King of Semi considerorsThere is a variety fomenting in the semiconductor industry. It may take 30years or more to reach perfection, but when it does the advance may be so greatthat todays computers will be little more than calculators compared to whatwill keep down after. The revolution is called molecular electronics, and its goal isto depose silicon as poof of the computer chip and put carbon in its place.The perpetrators are a few clever chemists essay to use pigment, proteins,polymers, and other innate molecules to persuade out the same task thatmicroscopic patterns of silicon and coat do now. For years these researchersworked in secret, mainly at their blackboards, plotting and planning. promptly theyare stock to conduct small forays in the laboratory, and their few successesto date lead them to rely they were on the right track."We have a long way to go sooner carbon-based electronics replace silicon-basedelect ronics, but we can see now that we try for to revolutionize computer designand performance," said Robert R. Birge, a professor of chemistry, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh. "Now its only a matter of time, hard work, andsome luck before molecular electronics start having a noticeable imp deed." molecular electronics is so named because it uses molecules to act as the"wires" and "switches" of computer chips. Wires, may someday be replaced bypolymers that conduct electricity, much(prenominal) as polyacetylene andpolyphenylenesulfide. Another candidate might be organometallic compounds suchas porphyrins and phthalocyanines which also conduct electricity. Whencrystallized, these flat molecules stack like pancakes, and metal ions in theircenters line up with one another to form a one-dimensional wire.Many organic molecules can exist in deuce distinct stable states that differ insome measurable seat and are interconvertable. These could be switches of molecular electronics. For example, bacteriorhodpsin, a bacterial pigment,exists in two optical states one state absorbs green come, the other orange.Shinning green light on the green-absorbing state converts it into the orangestate and vice versa. Birge and his coworkers have positive high density memorydrives using bacteriorhodopsin.Although the idea of using organic molecules may seem far-fetched, it happensevery day throughout nature. "Electron cargo ships in photosynthesis one of themost important energy generating systems in nature, is a real-world example ofwhat were trying to do," said Phil Seiden, manager of molecular science, IBM,Yorkstown Heights, N.Y.Birge, who heads the Center for Molecular Electronics at Carnegie-Mellon, saidtwo factors are driving this developing revolution, more speed and less space."Semiconductor chip designers are always trying to cram more electronic