Atom Electronics: A Proposal of Atom/Molecule Switching Devices

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Abstract
This paper proposes very fast (more than Tera (1012) Hz) and very small (less than a few nm) devices, atom relay transistors (ART), supra molecular atom relay transistors (SMART), and molecular single electron switching transistors (MOSES), which would supersede the MOSFET (metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field effect transistor) for future information processing. Their performances are evaluated on the basis of the characteristics necessary for integrated circuit devices and they are found to be the most promising candidates among the nanoscale devices including quantum devices and superconductor devices. Atom/molecule manipulation technology using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) would be the key factor in achieving these devices. The basic technology developments toward the realization of ART, SMART, and MOSES are reported, including the beam‐assisted scanning tunneling microscope (BASTM) for insulator observation, needle formation, and tip imaging (NFTI) for atom‐scale evaluation of the STM tip apex, micromachine STM (μ‐STM) for single molecule manipulation and the atom wire fabrication technology development on a silicon (100) hydrogen terminated surface.