News

Researchers Develop Molecule-Sized Diode

A team of researchers form the US and Israel have developed the world’s smallest diode, the size of a single molecule. The scientists, from the University of Georgia in the US and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel, collaborated to create the nanoscopic electronic device, which may mark a further step in demolishing Moore’s Law.

“Creating and characterizing the world’s smallest diode is a significant milestone in the development of molecular electronic devices,” Dr. Yoni Dubi, a researcher in the BGU Department of Chemistry and Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, told Phys.org. “It gives us new insights into the electronic transport mechanism.”

The researchers used a single DNA molecule, made from 11 base pairs and supplemented with inserted coralyne, and connected it to an electric circuit that measured mere nanometres. When electricity was passed through the molecule, the current increased to 15x negative vs. positive voltages, which effectively describes a diode.

“In summary, we have constructed a molecular rectifier by intercalating specific, small molecules into designed DNA strands,” explains Prof. Xu.

The design has only been tested in a theoretical model so far, but the research seems promising. “The model allowed us to identify the source of the diode-like feature, which originates from breaking spatial symmetry inside the DNA molecule after coralyne is inserted,” Xu added.

Ashley Allen

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Electronic Arts Titles Played for Over 11 Billion Hours in 2024

Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that its games were played for over 11 billion hours…

2 days ago

Just 15% of Steam Gaming Time in 2024 Was Spent on New Releases

Steam's annual end-of-year recap, Steam Replay, provides fascinating insights into gamer habits by comparing individual…

2 days ago

STALKER 2 Gets Massive 110GB Patch With 1800+ Fixes

GSC GameWorld released a major title update for STALKER 2 this seeking, bringing the game…

2 days ago

Intel Unveils Core 200H Processors Based on the Previous Raptor Lake Refresh

Without any formal announcement, Intel appears to have revealed its new Core 200H series processors…

3 days ago

Ubisoft Reportedly Developing a New Quadruple A Game

Ubisoft is not having the best of times, but despite recent flops, the company still…

3 days ago

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.1 Fixes 1,800 Issues and Revamps A-Life 2.0

If you haven’t started playing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl yet, now might be the…

3 days ago