A Reconfigurable Field-Coupled Nanocomputing Paradigm on Uniform Molecular Monolayers

The Molecular Field-Coupled Nanocomputing (FCN) is a computing beyond-CMOS paradigm that encodes the information in the charge distribution of molecules and propagates it through local electrostatic coupling. Notwithstanding the incredibly high potentialities of this technology in the field of high-speed and low-power digital electronics, a molecular prototype has not been produced yet. Indeed, this technology requires nanometric layouts, which are challenging to obtain, slowing down the technology assessment. In this work, we propose a paradigm that bypasses the need for nanometric patterning of molecular devices by organizing the uniform Self-Assembled Monolayer (SAM) into molecular blocks that may store information and be activated independently. The activation of blocks configures the SAM to perform in-memory logic computation. This study demonstrates a reconfigurable molecular standard-cell that maps the basic logic gates (routing, majority voters, inverters), enabling complex digital circuit design. With this paradigm, we move the challenges from the SAM nanopatterning to the clocking system technological feasibility, reducing resolution constraints and favoring the eventual realization of a prototype.