Nanotech breakthrough promises single-atom data storage and molecular computers

Although the IBM Research team had been screening various molecules to discover if they would be suitable for molecular switches, in the case of naphthalocyanine, the tests being performed were not to observe switching but rather to examine molecular vibrations, since understanding vibrations of molecules is important for devices operating at the atomic level. During those tests, team members were surprised to observe results that were intriguing for switching at the molecular scale, and they shifted their focus from studying vibrations to studying switching, leading to this breakthrough.

“One of the beauties of doing exploratory science is that by researching one area, you sometimes stumble upon other areas of major significance,” said Gerhard Meyer, senior researcher in the nanoscale science group at the IBM Zurich lab. “Although the discovery of this breakthrough was accidental, it may prove to be significant for building the computers of the future.”

These new results are the latest in a series of achievements in nanoscale science at IBM Research. Two IBM scientists in Switzerland won the 1986 Nobel Prize in physics for their early 1980s invention of the STM. Over the past 20 years, IBM Almaden researchers have pioneered the use of STMs for positioning atoms into precisely designed structures that reveal fundamental atomic-scale properties and may have potential uses in information storage, transmission and processing.