Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have set the stage for building the “evolutionary link” between the microelectronics of today built from semiconductor compounds and future generations of devices made largely from complex organic molecules.

Global warming isn’t the only heat scientists are feeling. Another area in which heat flow is becoming crucial is the field of molecular electronics, where long-chain molecules attached to tiny electrodes are used to transport and switch electrons.

Researchers at Temple University have observed and documented electron transfer reactions on an electrode surface at the single molecule level for the first time, a discovery which could have future relevance to areas such as molecular electronics, electrochemistry, biology, catalysis, information storage, and solar energy conversion.

Often, things can be improved by a little 'contamination.' Steel, for example is iron with a bit of carbon mixed in. To produce materials for modern electronics, small amounts of impurities are introduced into silicon – a process called doping. It is these impurities that enable electricity to flow through the semiconductor and allow designers to control the electronic properties of the material.