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Potential and challenges of computing with molecular materials

Nature Materials (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

We are at an inflection point in computing where traditional technologies are incapable of keeping up with the demands of exploding data collection and artificial intelligence. This challenge demands a leap to a new platform as transformative as the digital silicon revolution. Over the past 30 years molecular materials for computing have generated great excitement but continually fallen short of performance and reliability requirements. However, recent reports indicate that those historical limitations may have been resolved. Here we assess the current state of computing with molecular-based materials, especially using transition metal complexes of redox active ligands, in the context of neuromorphic computing. We describe two complementary research paths necessary to determine whether molecular materials can be the basis of a new computing technology: continued exploration of the molecular electronic properties that enable computation and, equally important, the process development for on-chip integration of molecular materials.

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Fig. 1: Azo-aromatic electron sponge with different electron occupancies.
Fig. 2: Multiple-pathway interactions and mechanisms in molecular films.
Fig. 3: Tailoring molecules for enhanced computing.
Fig. 4: A MIMO accelerator.
Fig. 5: Navigating the scientific and technological path ahead.

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Acknowledgements

Sreetosh Goswami and Sreebrata Goswami thank CeNSE facilities for their support, which is funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST). Sreetosh Goswami also acknowledges support from an IISc start-up grant, a Pratiksha Trust Grant and SERB core research grant number CRG/2022/001998. R.S.W. is supported by the Center for Reconfigurable Electronic Materials Inspired by Nonlinear Neuron Dynamics (reMIND), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences at the under award number DE-SC0023353. We thank D. Thompson for helping with several molecular illustrations.

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  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    R. Stanley Williams

  2. Centre for Nanoscience and Engineering (CeNSE), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Sreebrata Goswami & Sreetosh Goswami

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Williams, R.S., Goswami, S. & Goswami, S. Potential and challenges of computing with molecular materials. Nat. Mater. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-024-01820-4

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