The purpose of this paper, within the context of the NATO ASI proceedings, is twofold: To describe the competition that advanced functional materials, such as molecular devices, face from existing silicon technology. The new materials and devices must compete with devices fabricated using entrenched semiconductor technology, especially silicon technology. The major problem is that silicon technology is not stationary, but progresses with a relentless momentum. This paper describes the progress in silicon technology from the perspective of scaling to submicron devices, and the expected performance at the end of the 'silicon scaling era.' It is at the end of this scaling era that new molecular electronic devices, such as those described by Kelly, and Sagiv and Cohen, are expected to become commercially viable. These molecular devices must outperform the silicon devices of that era, not the present generation.
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