Bottom-up assembly of nanoelectronic devices provides a possible alternative to conventional top-down microelectronic manufacturing methods for constructing future integrated circuits and systems-on-a-chip. Many nanoelectronic devices are emerging as strong candidates for integration into these circuits and systems, including those that incorporate self-assembled molecular monolayer junctions. Recent innovations in synthetic chemistry and device synthesis are making it possible to study the relationship between properties such as molecular structure, contacts, and local molecular environment and the junction electrical characteristics. These studies have provided a strong foundation for understanding and modeling junctions containing π-conjugated molecular wires, and are giving insight into the design of molecular devices with nonlinear or bistable switching characteristics that are of interest for logic and memory circuits.
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