Scientists have created a transistor made up of a single molecule. Surrounded by just 12 atoms, it is likely to be the smallest possible size for a transistor – and the hard limit for Moore's law.
The transistor is made of a single molecule of phthalocyanine surrounded by ring of 12 positively charged indium atoms placed on an indium arsenide crystal, as revealed in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
The work proves that precise control of atoms to create a transistor smaller than any other quantum system available is possible and opens the door to further research into harnessing these tiny transistors for computers and systems with orders of magnitude more processing power than today's machines.
From The Guardian
The original article from Nature
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 23 2015, @03:18PM
It's nice that you can do it in a laboratory. However, it's a completely different problem to reliably create a circuit containing billions of those, in a process suitable for mass production. Which doesn't mean it may not happen one day. But it means that there's a lot of further research and development to be done before you'll be able to buy a computer using them.
(Score: 4, Touché) by c0lo on Thursday July 23 2015, @03:25PM
Wiring the drains of those transistors must be a pain, I don't think the normal solder would stick to phthalocyanine, much less to a single molecule of it. (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by zugedneb on Thursday July 23 2015, @05:05PM
maybe they can be connected to some optical device...
would be cool if power/communication would be by light =)
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax