AIBRIEF
By adding fragile molecules after the heavy fabrication steps and letting surface chemistry pull them into place, the team kept sub nanometer layers intact across more than 1,000 devices.
MIT researchers reported a way to put fragile molecules on a chip without destroying them. Their Nature Nanotechnology paper, published August 3, describes a "self-assembled contacts" approach: standard semiconductor processes build the device shell first, then engineered surface chemistry pulls the molecules into place between pre-formed metal contacts. The method produced more than 1,000 electrically active metal–molecule–metal devices with yields up to 99%, including molecular layers thinner than 1 nanometer that remained stable through 10⁵ measurement cycles. In situ Raman spectroscopy confirmed the molecules were not chemically damaged during fabrication.
Senior author Farnaz Niroui, an MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, said the platform can integrate nanoscale and quantum materials, including molecules, into functional devices. Co-lead authors are EECS graduate students Sarah Spector and Peter Satterthwaite, with chemistry co-author Jeremiah A. Johnson.
The advance is a fabrication step, not a product. The paper positions molecular electronics as compatible with conventional fab throughput rather than a niche chemistry exercise, but the demonstration is lab-scale: a research run, not a production line. The release points to next-generation computing, sensing, optical, and quantum platforms as future directions.