The electronic revolution started with the invention of the Vacuum Tubes in the late 1800s. Soon, the inventions of Tesla, Marconi, Hertz and others, ushered in a revolution. Long distance communication through radio waves became a reality, and we were launched into the modern age. The pace of progress has only accelerated ever since, and with the invention of the (solid-state) transistor (semi-conductor based device which replaced the tube-based valves) by Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain around 1950, we step into the world of micro-electronics:):). Since then, the ubiquitous transistor has shrunk to a few microns inside a modern microprocessor chip.

Single Molecule Transistor (Courtesy: National Research Council, Canada)However, to keep pace with our insatiable requirements for faster and smaller processors, the size of the transistor must be reduced further. It seems that scientists from University of Liverpool may have finally achieved the ultimate goal: creation of a molecular transistor:):).
Dr. Werner Hofer, from the University's Surface Science Research Centre, is one of an international team of scientists who have created a prototype that demonstrates a single charged atom on a silicon surface can regulate the conductivity of a nearby molecule. Computers and other technology based on this concept would require much less energy to power, would produce much less heat, and run much faster.
The team tested the transistor potential of a molecule by using the electrostatic field emanating from a single atom to regulate the conductivity of a molecule, allowing an electric current to flow through the molecule.
Modern transistors are a few microns (1/1000th of a millimeter) in size. In contrast, the molecular transistor are a 1000 fold smaller (1/1000th of a micron), and if it is possible to integrate millions of such transistors on a chip, it should usher in a nano-electronic revolution. From Desktop, to Laptop, to Palmtop, we might have ThumbTop and PinheadTop computers in this century:D:D.