SYDNEY, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Electronic devices could be 10 times smaller by using metallic nanoparticles to build the circuits with molecules, beyond the constraints of conventional silicon-based computer chips, according to latest Australian-linked research.
While the use of molecules to manufacture electronic devices that are "smaller, faster, have more memory and are cheaper to make" face the challenge of suitable platforms, the nanoparticles can provide a reliable electrical contact to plug the gap, Macquarie University's Associate Professor Koushik Venkatesan, a researcher of the findings, said in a statement on Thursday.
Before their findings, the researchers said scientists were not able to make a stable device platform for the molecules to "sit inside" to reliably connect, respond to a current and be easily mass-produced.
The next step for the researchers will be to test the nanoparticles platform with different molecules that have different functions to see if they can make it work.
"Imagine a miniaturized transistor made up of several single molecules," said Koushik.
"The electronic building blocks of the future will be molecules."
