Molecular ribbons

Self-assembly of molecular wires presents an exciting approach to the problem of interconnecting electronic devices. However, a central difficulty with this concept is the huge size mismatch between a molecule and an electronic device. One way around this problem is to link together a chain of 1-5 nm size metallic clusters electronically with short ( nm) molecular wires to form what we call a `molecular ribbon'. In this paper we review some of the work on (1) measuring and interpreting the resistance of a class of molecular wires and (2) using these wires to connect metallic nanoclusters to form a ribbon. We then present a possible scheme by which molecular ribbons could be used to generate a useful interconnection network. This scheme is very speculative in nature, but it provides a concrete example of how the directed self-assembly of molecular nanostructures can be relevant to semiconductor technology.