Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) may provide a novel way to bypass the transistor paradigm to form ultrasmall computing elements. In the QCA paradigm information is represented in the charge configuration of a QCA cell, which maps naturally to a binary model. Molecular QCA implementations are being explored where the quantum dots in the cell take the form of redox centers in a molecule. Clocking has proved important in QCA cells synthesized so far. Here we examine a method to clock molecular QCA cells which are assembled at an interface. The clocking signals in this scheme originate from wires buried below the QCA surface. We present a simplified model of this clocking method and examine its behavior as a molecular shift register.

1.
C. S.
Lent
,
P. D.
Tougaw
,
W.
Porod
, and
G. H.
Bernstein
,
Nanotechnology
4
,
49
(
1993
).
2.
C. S.
Lent
and
P. D.
Tougaw
,
Proc. IEEE
85
,
541
(
1997
).
3.
A. O.
Orlov
,
I.
Amlani
,
G. H.
Bernstein
,
C. S.
Lent
, and
G. L.
Snider
,
Science
277
,
928
(
1997
);
I.
Amlani
,
A.
Orlov
,
G.
Toth
,
G. H.
Bernstein
,
C. S.
Lent
, and
G. L.
Snider
,
Science
284
,
289
(
1999
);
G. L.
Snider
,
A. O.
Orlov
,
I.
Amlani
,
X.
Zuo
,
G. H.
Bernstein
,
C. S.
Lent
,
J. L
Merz
, and
W.
Porod
,
J. Appl. Phys.
85
,
4283
(
1999
).
4.
C. S.
Lent
,
Science
288
,
1597
(
2000
);
X Lei, E. E. Wolf, and T. P. Fehlner, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 1835 (1998);
W.
Cen
,
P.
Lindenfeld
, and
T. P.
Fehlner
,
J. Am. Chem. Soc.
114
,
5451
(
1992
).
5.
G.
Toth
and
C. S.
Lent
,
J. Appl. Phys.
85
,
2977
(
1999
).
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.