Klaus von Klitzing Max-Planck-Institut fur ̈ Festk ̈ orperforschung, Heisenbergstraße 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany Already many Cassandras have prematurely announced the end of the silicon roadmap and yet, conventional semiconductor-based transistors have been continuously shrinking at a pace which has brought us to nowadays cheap and powerful microelectronics. However it is clear that the traditional scaling laws cannot be applied if unwanted tunnel phenomena or ballistic transport dominate the device properties. It is generally expected, that a combination of silicon CMOS devices with molecular structure will dominate the ?eld of nanoelectronics in 20 years. The visionary ideas of atomic- or molecular-scale electronics already date back thirty years but only recently advanced nanotechnology, including e.g. scanning tunneling methods and mechanically controllable break junctions, have enabled to make distinct progress in this direction. On the level of f- damentalresearch,stateofthearttechniquesallowtomanipulate,imageand probechargetransportthroughuni-molecularsystemsinanincreasinglyc- trolled way. Hence, molecular electronics is reaching a stage of trustable and reproducible experiments. This has lead to a variety of physical and chemical phenomena recently observed for charge currents owing through molecular junctions, posing new challenges to theory. As a result a still increasing n- ber of open questions determines the future agenda in this ?eld.

This book takes a "bottom-up" approach, beginning with atoms and molecules – molecular building blocks – and assembling them to build nanostructured materials. Coverage includes Carbon Nanotubes, Nanowires, and Diamondoids. The applications presented here will enable practitioners to design and build nanometer-scale systems. These concepts have far-reaching implications: from mechanical to chemical processes, from electronic components to ultra-fine sensors, from medicine to energy, and from pharmaceuticals to agriculture and food.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the rapidly developing field of molecular electronics. It focuses on our present understanding of the electrical conduction in single-molecule circuits and provides a thorough introduction to the experimental techniques and theoretical concepts. It will also constitute as the first textbook-like introduction to both the experiment and theory of electronic transport through single atoms and molecules. In this sense, this publication will prove invaluable to both researchers and students interested in the field of nanoelectronics and nanoscience in general. Molecular Electronics is self-contained and unified in its presentation. It may be used as a textbook on nanoelectronics by graduate students and advanced undergraduates studying physics and chemistry. In addition, included are previously unpublished material that will help researchers gain a deeper understanding into the basic concepts involved in the field of molecular electronics.

There are fundamental and technological limits of conventional microfabrication and microelectronics. Scaling down conventional devices and attempts to develop novel topologies and architectures will soon be ineffective or unachievable at the device and system levels to ensure desired performance. Forward-looking experts continue to search for new paradigms to carry the field beyond the age of microelectronics, and molecular electronics is one of the most promising candidates. The Nano and Molecular Electronics Handbook surveys the current state of this exciting, emerging field and looks toward future developments and opportunities. Molecular and Nano Electronics Explained Explore the fundamentals of device physics, synthesis, and design of molecular processing platforms and molecular integrated circuits within three-dimensional topologies, organizations, and architectures as well as bottom-up fabrication utilizing quantum effects and unique phenomena. Technology in Progress Stay current with the latest results and practical solutions realized for nanoscale and molecular electronics as well as biomolecular electronics and memories. Learn design concepts, device-level modeling, simulation methods, and fabrication technologies used for today's applications and beyond. Reports from the Front Lines of Research Expert innovators discuss the results of cutting-edge research and provide informed and insightful commentary on where this new paradigm will lead. The Nano and Molecular Electronics Handbook ranks among the most complete and authoritative guides to the past, present, and future of this revolutionary area of theory and technology.

Have you ever puzzled over how to perform Boolean logic at the atomic scale? Or wondered how you can carry out more general calculations in one single molecule or using a surface dangling bond atomic scale circuit? This volume gives you an update on the design of single molecule devices, such as recitfiers, switches and transistors, more advanced semi-classical and quantum boolean gates integrated in a single molecule or constructed atom by atom on a passivated semi-conductor surface and describes their interconnections with adapted nano-scale wiring. The main contributors to the field of single molecule logic gates and surface dangling bond atomic scale circuits theory and design, were brought together for the first time to contribute on topics such as molecule circuits, surface dangling bond circuits, quantum controlled logic gates and molecular qubits. Contributions in this volume originate from the Barcelona workshop of the AtMol conference series, held from January 12-13 2012.