Molecular QCA: A write-in system based on electric fields

Molecular Quantum Dot Cellular Automata (MQCA) are an emergent beyond CMOS technology that uses molecular systems as elementary nanoelectronic devices with computational purposes. The binary encoding is provided by the charge localization within the molecule, so that no current flows among the cells. We discuss a method to write a logic state in a molecule synthesized ad hoc for this technology. Our idea is to apply specific electric field to move the electrons inside the molecule, forcing a logic state. A combination of ab-initio calculations and molecular dynamics simulations allowed us to fix the working point of our experimental system and to assess the feasibility of this method, as well as to investigate further experimental solutions for the read-out issue.