Selforganization in the human brain
and self-assembly in materials
for molecular electronics
Manfred Weick
Siemens AG,
Corporate Technology Department
This is an abstract
for a poster to be presented at the
Fifth
Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.
There will be a link from here to the full article when it is
available on the web.
Keywords: Human brain, Self-assembly,
selforganization, information processing at the molecular level,
molecular electronics
Abstract
Molecular electronics will result in enormous gains in device
density coupled with reduced power consumption per transistor
equaivalent. An important technique in this context is
self-assembly. One method for the self-assembly of small
molecules to form supramolecular structures was developed, for
instance, by Klaus Muellen and coworkers (VALI95). Another
crucial element in the future development of circuits for the
information processing at the nanoscale and molecular level is
the role of the interconnects (ROYC96).
While conventional semiconductor technology follows the
top-down principle of further miniaturisation coming from bulk
material by improved lithography techniques, the molecular
electronics approach is a bottom-up principle, starting from
single molecular entities on a nanometer-scale to build
information processing networks. That means, ultimate
miniaturisation of circuits will be reached if single molecules
or atoms can be assembled into active devices that can switch,
store and retrieve information. But all these devices would
require wires to link the devices, realized with techniques like
self-assembly.
This paper gives an overview of what we can learn from the
relations of selforganization in the human brain and
self-assembly in materials for molecular electronics.
References
ANDR96 Andres, R. P., Datta, S., Dorogi, M.,
Gomez, J., Henderson, J. I., Janes, D. B., Kolagunta, V. R.,
Kubiak, C. P., Mahoney, W., Osifchin, R. F., Reifenberger, R.,
Samanta, M. P., and Titan, W.: Room temperature Coulomb blockade
and Coulomb staircase from self-assembled nanostructures. Journal
of Vacuum Science & Technology A 14, No. 3, 1996, 1178-1183.
BAR97 Bar, G., Rubin, S., Martin, T., Taylor,
Th. N., Swanson, B. I., Zawodzinski, Th. A., Jr., Chow, J. T.,
and Ferraris, J. P.: The influence of contamination on
compositional imaging of self-assembled monolayers by scanning
force microscopy. Supramolecular Sciences 4, Nos. 1-2, 1997,
11-19.
BERG97 Berger, R., Delamarche, E., Lang, H. P.,
Gerber, Ch., Gimzweski, J. K., Meyer, E., and Guntherodt, H.-J.:
Surface Stress in the Self-Assembly of Alkanethiols on Gold.
Science 276, No. 5321, 1997, 2021-2024.
CLAR88 Clark, N. A., Douglas, K., K.,
Rothschild, K. J.: Self-Assembled Nanometer Lithographic Masks
and Templates and Method for Parallel Fabrication of Nanometer
Scale Multi-Device Structures. United States Patent, Patent No.
4.728.591, March 1, 1988.
CLAR97 Clark, S. L., Montague, M., and Hammond,
P. T.: Selective deposition in multilayer assembly: SAMs as
molecular templates. Supramolecular Science 4, Nos. 1-2, 1997,
141-146.
CONR76 Conrad, M.: Molecular Information
Structures in the Brain. Journal of Neuroscience Research 2, No.
3, 1976, 233-245.
DELA97 Delamarche, E., Hoole, A. C. F., Michel,
B., Wilkes, S., Despont, M., Welland, M. E., and Biebuyck, H.:
Making Gold Nanostructures using Positive Lithography with
Electron Beams and Self-Assembled Monolayers. Research Reports RZ
2919, IBM Research Division, Zurich Research Laboratory,
Ruschlikon, Switzerland, 31. 3. 1997.
DELA94 Delamarche, E., Michel, B., Kang, H.,
and Gerber, Ch.: Thermal Stability of Self-Assembled Monolayers.
Langmuir 10, No. 11, 1994, 4103-4108.
GOME96 Gomez-Lopez, M., Preece, J. A., and
Stoddart, J. F.: The art and science of self-assembling molecular
machines. Nanaotechnology 7, No. 3, 1996, 183-192.
GRAN97 Granstrom, M., Gerggren, M., Pede, D.,
Inganas, O., Andersson, M. R., Hjertberg, Th., and Wennerstrom,
O.: Self organizing polymer films - a route to novel electronic
devices based on conjugated polymers. Supramolecular Science 4,
Nos. 1-2, 1997, 27-34.
HELL96 Heller, M. J.: Self-organizing molecular
photonic structures based on chromophore- and
flourophore-containing polynucleotides and methods of their use.
United States Patent, Patent No. 5.532.129, July 2, 1996.
MERK89 Merkle, R. C.: Energy Limits to the Computational Power of the Human
Brain. In: Foresight Update No. 6,
1989.
MERK94b Merkle, R. C.: The Molecular Repair of
the Brain. Cryonics 15, Nos. 1&2, 1994.
OGIN96 Ogino, T., Hibino, H., and Prabhakaran,
K.: Fabrication of nanostructures on silicon surfaces on wafer
scale by controlling self-organization processes. Journal of
Vacuum Science & Technology B 14, No. 6, 1996, 4134-4139.
PERR96 Perrier, J.-Y., Sipper, M., and Zahnd,
J.: Toward a vible, self-reproducing universal computer. Physica
D 97, No. 4, 1996, 335-352.
ROYC96 Roychowdhury, V. P., Janes, D. B.,
Bandyopadhyay, S., and Wang, X.: Collective Computational
Activity in Self-Assembled Arrays of Quantum Dots: A Novel
Neuromorphic Architecture for Nanoelectronics. IEEE Transactions
on Electron Devices ED-43, No. 10, 1996, 1688-1699.
SAMP97 Sampath, S. and Lev, O.: 3D Organized
Self-Assembled Monolayer Electrodes: A Novel Biosensor
Configuration. Advanced Materials 9, No. 5, 1997, 410-413.
VALI95 Valiyaveettil, S., Scherf, U.,
Enkelmann, V., Klapper, M., and Mullen, K.: Design and Control of
the Structure of Polymers and Molecular Aggregates in the Solid
Lattice: Synthetic and Self-Assembly Approach. In: Mishra, M. K.
(Ed.) et al.: Proceedings of the International Conference Adv.
Polym. Macromolecular Engineering, pp. 243-253. New York: Plenum
Press, 1995.
WIRT97 Wirth, M. J., Fairbank, R. W., and
Fatunmbi, H. O.: Mixed Self-Assembled Monolayers in Chemical
Separations. Science 275, No. 5296, 1997, 44-47.
XIA96 Xia, Y., Zhao, X.-M., and Whitesides, G.
M.: Pattern transfer: Self-assembled monolayers as ultrathin
resists. Microelectronic Engineering 32, Nos. 1-4, 1996, 255-268.
*Corresponding Address:
Manfred Weick, Siemens AG, Corporate Technology Department
Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, D-81739, Munich
telephone: +49 89 636-48028 fax: +49 89 636-45450
e-mail: [email protected]
|