MIT researchers reported a fabrication method intended to place fragile molecular materials into electronic devices without the damage normally caused by chip manufacturing. The work was published August 3, 2026, in Nature Nanotechnology, with Farnaz Niroui, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, as senior author.

The two-step approach first builds device components with standard semiconductor processes, then adds the molecules and uses nanoscale capillary and van der Waals forces to bring the electrodes together around them. The team reported fabricating more than 1,000 devices with molecular layers less than 1 nanometer thick, achieving an average yield of 96 percent; the devices reportedly withstood tens of thousands of electrical cycles without signs of degradation.

The researchers also described an interconnected array of molecular memory devices and suggested the technique could extend to other materials and architectures. They said future work would explore multifunctional computing and sensing devices and systems.