Defect-tolerant digital filtering with unreliable molecular electronics

Molecular electronics such as silicon nanowires (NW) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) are considered to be the future computational substrates due to their ultra-high density and superior energy efficiency. However, excessive defects from bottom-up self-assembly fabrication pose a major technological barrier to achieving reliable computing at the molecular scale. Existing solutions targeting absolute correctness introduce high cost and complexity in post-fabrication testing and defect diagnosis. In this paper, we propose a new approach exploiting algorithm level enhancements for defect-insensitive signal processing. By deliberately allowing molecular-scale integrated systems to bear defects, the proposed design framework achieves reliable signal processing while significantly reduces the cost of defect tolerance.