Molecular-scale electronics

A review of nonequilibrium electronic transport in molecules and molecular-scale synthetic systems is given. Although the basic concepts and mechanisms for electronic conduction in polymers have been discussed for some time, recently developed experimental techniques provide systems for their validation. New fabrication techniques that create metallic contacts to a small number of conjugated organic molecules allow the study of the basic transport mechanism of these systems and will provide direction for the potential development of molecular-scale electronic systems.