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Switching to chemistry Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have demonstrated a new kind of electrical switch, formed of organic molecules, that could be used in the future in nanoscale electronic components. Their approach involved rethinking a phenomenon that drives many of today's high-speed semiconductors. Negative differential resistance (NDR), as the phenomenon is called, works contrary to the normal laws of electricity, in which an increase in voltage translates into a direct increase in current. In NDR, as the voltage steadily increases, the current peaks and then drops off, essentially allowing one to create a switch with no moving parts. But until now, those attempting to recreate NDR at the molecular scale had only managed it at extremely low temperatures.
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