ADVANCED AVIONICS AND AVIATION MATERIALS WILL UTILIZE LIGHT WEIGHT STRUCTURES CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING SUPERIOR ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL AND THERMAL PROPERTIES IN HOSTILE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS.

ADVANCED AVIONICS AND AVIATION MATERIALS WILL UTILIZE LIGHT WEIGHT STRUCTURES CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING SUPERIOR ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL AND THERMAL PROPERTIES IN HOSTILE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS. RAPID DEVELOPMENTS IN STATE-OF-THE-ART CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS HAVE CREATED UNIQUE OPPORTUNTIES TO THE FURTHER MINIATURIZATION OF SILICON CHIP ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY UTILIZING SYNTHETIC OR BIOLOGICAL POLYMERS ON THE SCALE OF INDIVIDUAL MOLECULES. WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE A VARIETY OF NOVEL TECHNIQUES AND CONCEPTS INVOLVING MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO AVIONICS, COMPUTERS, SENSORS, AND OPTO-ELECTRONIC DEVICES. OUR STUDIES WILL EXPLORE DESIGN CONCEPTS, A VARIETY OF COMPUTER MODELINGS OF MOLECULAR ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS, AND THE CONNECTOR PROBLEM--HOW TO LINK A WIRE FROM A KEYBOARD, FOR EXAMPLE, TO AN INDIVIDUAL MOLECULE. THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO COMBINE THE ADVANCES WE PROPOSE TO MAKE INTO A FULL-FLEDGED TECHNOLOGY TO OVERCOME THE TOUGH PROBLEMS THAT ARE CURRENTLY FACING MOLECULAR ELECTRONIC RESEARCH. OUR PROPOSED STUDIES SHOULD ALSO YIELD INFORMATION CONCERNING HOW MOLECULAR-SCALE OPTO-ELECTRONIC DEVICES MIGHT WORK, AND PROVIDE DIRECT CLUES ABOUT OTHER TYPES OF ELEMENTS THAT ARE QUITE DIFFERENT AND MUCH BETTER IN PERFORMANCE THAN THE ONES ORIGINALLY PROPOSED.