MIT engineers build molecular electronics with record 96% yield
Turning molecules into reliable electronic devices
MIT researchers have developed a scalable fabrication technique that integrates delicate molecular materials into electronic devices without damaging them. By prefabricating device components with standard semiconductor manufacturing and then using nanoscale forces to self-assemble the final structure, they produced over 1,000 devices with sub-nanometer molecular layers, achieving an average 96% yield and stability over tens of thousands of electrical cycles. The method enables circuit-level integration, demonstrated with an interconnected array of molecular memory devices, and could advance next-generation computing, sensing, and quantum technologies.
Our platform combines the scalability of conventional semiconductor manufacturing with the precision and control of self-assembly. This establishes a new fabrication framework for the scalable, high-throughput integration of emerging nanoscale and quantum materials, including molecules, into functional devices with architectures and capabilities that were previously infeasible.