12 Molecular Logic Gates

Chandana Karnati and Hai-Feng Ji

Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272

12.1 Introduction

It was predicted that scale-down development of silicon microchips would reach

its limit in 2012. This chapter introduces molecular logic gates in contrast to
established traditional form of gates based on silicon microchips. The roadblocks
arise from fundamental physical constraints as well as monetary restrictions. The
scientific barriers include very thin oxide layers i.e at the four-atom-thick level
resulting in inadequate insulation thereby, causing charge leakage. Moreover,
silicon looses its fundamental band structure when restricted to very small sizes.
The oxide thickness limit and cannot simply be overcome by technological
improvements. However, this may be overcome by using a different solution than
further thinning of the oxide (Schulz 1999). Molecules, due to their discrete orbital
levels, possess large energy level separations at room temperature and at the
nanometer-size level make them independent of broadband properties.
Construction of new fabrication lines for each generation of chips is required to
maintain the chip manufacturing process, by contrast, molecular construction is a
bottom-up technology that uses atoms to build nanometer-sized molecules that
could further self-assemble into a desired computational circuitry. The bottom-up
approach gives rise to the prospect of manufacturing electronic circuits in rapid,
cost-efficient and flow-through processes. These processes can be analogous to
the production of photographic film, with overall enormous cost savings over
traditional microchip fabrication. Moreover, molecular density is high compared
to solid-state devices (Tour 2000).

12.2 Logic Gates

Logic gates are the fundamental components of the digital circuits, which process
binary data encoded, in electrical signals. According to the predefined logic
functions they transduce electrical inputs into electrical outputs (Mitchell 1995).
276 12 Chandana Karnati and Hai-Feng Ji

Logic gates can be classified as single-input and multiple-input logic gates,

based on the 4 possible output patterns for a single-input i.e if the input is 0 the
output can be 0 or 1 (two choices) and if the input is 1 the output is 0 or 1 (two
choices). Each one of these four output bit patterns corresponds to a logic type:
PASS0 which always outputs 0, PASS1 which always outputs 1, YES always
obeys the input, NOT always opposes the input whatever the input is. OR, AND,
INHIBIT, etc fall under multiple-input logic gates. The symbol and the truth table
of three basic logic gates, NOT, OR, AND, are shown in Fig. 12.1.

Input Output

1 0

0 1

Input 1 Input 2 Output Input 1 Input 2 Output

0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 1 0 1 0
1 0 1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 1

Fig. 12.1. Three basic logic gates and their corresponding truth tables

The AND and OR gates convert two inputs (I1and I2) into a single output (O).
In the AND gate the output is 1 when both the inputs are 1, the output is 0 in all
the other three cases. Logic gates can be interconnected and the logic functions of
the resulting arrays are the combination of the operations performed by individual
gates.
Combinational logic circuits can be assembled by connecting the input and
output terminals of the three basic logic gates AND, NOT and OR. Simple
examples of the combinational logic circuits able to convert two binary inputs (I1
and I2) into a single output (O) according to the corresponding truth tables are
summarised in Fig. 12.2.
Simple organic molecules in which binary operations could be performed are
called as molecular switches. They adjust their structural and electronic properties
when stimulated with chemical, electrical, or optical inputs. Chemical systems
require proper anology between the molecular switches and the logic gates in
order to execute AND, NOT, OR and more complex logic functions.