Current status of molecular electronics

Recent advances stimulated by several new developments in science and technology that have occurred in the last few years are reviewed. These developments are the emergence of scanning transmission microscopy and the gains in nanolithography which have been fueled by the trend toward miniaturization and compaction in solid-state technology. Two areas of development have emerged as the result: the biological approach to molecular electronics, using both ideas and materials from biology, and molecular electronics using nonbiological materials.