5. Electronic interconnection

The aim is to develop the technical means to exchange information and/or energy between a macroscopic device and a single molecule, using so-called "nano-communication" tools and devices. Here, the equipment must adapt to the small dimensions of the molecule, and not the other way round, as is often advocated in a bottom-up approach to nanotechnology.

Given the small de Broglie wavelength associated with an electron (of the order of 0.5 nm in a metal), the electron is, for the time being, the preferred information carrier for solving this communication problem, even if it remains to be seen whether or not we'll need to encode this information quantum-wise in the future, or retain a classical approach.

In order to interconnect a molecule or an atomic circuit to a large number of electrically conductive electrodes, the current must be carried...