Design of Multifunctional Nanoscale Information Bearing Units and Processes Related to their Use on a Surface

小行星9600138 现在，分子（或1-10 nm尺寸的大分子）是否可以被寻址并可靠地存储信息已经成为一个重要但尚未回答的问题。新技术，特别是扫描隧道显微镜（STM），肯定会在这些计划中使用。金属或半导体相的纳米光刻在表面上创建凹陷或土丘可以表示二进制信息，但原子可以扩散，破坏这些信息。理想情况下，携带信息的分子可以移动到适当的位置并固定在表面上。 随后，它们可以在不受周围环境影响的情况下进行切换和阅读。在这个项目中，这类方案的分子要求和工艺要求都将得到解决。在前一个领域，将合成一个新的纳米单元。它被设计成可切换的，与附近的单元隔离（这样它包含的信息就不会变得混乱），STM尖端可读，并且容易定位在表面上（因此可寻址）。有人认为，所有这些标准必须满足之前，基于分子的系统可以作为一个信息存储设备。为此目的设计的分子将在树枝状聚合物内包含电活性核心。这种混合分子将具有隔离的、可切换的信息单元，同时具有容易定制的尺寸、形状和表面。同时，在工艺领域，将探索使用STM尖端在有机表面上进行化学转化的方法（使用有机硫醇在金上的自组装单层形成）。而不是蚀刻的表面，有人认为，位点特异性还原解吸的有机硫醇到溶液中的表面将允许更可预测的，可靠的控制定位的分子在表面上。这两个项目部分都将针对表面上基于分子的信息存储的要求进行演示。 随着计算元件变得越来越小，人们必须设计出在更小的空间中编码信息的方法。至少就严格的空间编码而言，纳米级信息存储的两个最明显的方案是（a）将已知的微米级元件继续小型化以接近纳米级，或者（B）定制现有的纳米级物体，例如分子，使得它们可以用作信息承载单元（IBU）。在该提案中，将描述被定制为用作可切换、可寻址和可组织IBU的大分子对象。有人认为，只有这样一个系统将适用于纳米级信息编码方案。 ***

9600138 Gorman It has now become an important but unanswered question as to whether molecules (or macromolecule at the 1-10 nm size scale) can be addressed and reliably store information. New techniques, particularly scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), will certainly have use in these schemes. Nanolithography of metallic or semiconducting phases to create depressions or mounds on a surface can represent binary information, but atoms can diffuse, destroying this information. Ideally, information-bearing molecules could be moved into place and anchored to a surface. Subsequently, they could be switched and read without being influenced by their surroundings. In this project, both the molecular requirements and the process requirements for such a scheme will be addressed. In the former area, a new nanoscale unit will be synthesized. It is designed to be switchable, isolated from nearby units (so that the information it contains will not become scrambled), readable by an STM tip, and easily positioned on a surface (and thus addressable). It is argued that all of these criteria must be fulfilled before a molecule-based system can function as an information storage device. The molecule designed for this purpose will contain an electroactive core inside a dendrimeric polymer. This hybrid molecule will have an isolated, switchable information unit and simultaneously an easily tailored size, shape, and surface. Simultaneously, in the process area, methods for using the STM tip to perform chemical transformations on an organic surface (fashioned using self-assembled monolayers of organothiols on gold) will be explored. Rather than etching the surface, it is argued that site-specific reductive desorption of the organothiols into a solution over the surface will permit more predictable, reliable control over positioning of molecules on a surface. Both of these project segments will be directed towards demonstrations of those requirements for molecule-based information storage on a surface. %%% As computing elements become smaller and smaller, one must devise ways to encode information in smaller spaces. At least as far as strictly spatial encoding is concerned, the two most obvious schemes for nanoscale information storage are (a) continued miniaturization of known microscale elements to approach the nanoscale or (b) tailoring existing nanoscale objects e.g. molecules so that they can function as information bearing units (IBUs). In this proposal, macromolecular objects will be described that are tailored to serve as switchable, addressable, and organizable IBUs. It will be argued that only such a system will be suitable for use in nanoscale information encoding schemes. ***