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The convergence of terahertz spectroscopy and single molecule experimentation offer significant promise of enhancement in sensitivity and selectivity in molecular recognition, identification and quantitation germane to military and security applications. This presentation reports the results of experiments which address fundamental barriers to the integration of large, patterned bio-compatible molecular opto-electronic systems with silicon based microelectronic systems. The central thrust of this approach is sequential epitaxy on surface bound single stranded DNA one-dimensional substrates. The challenge of producing highly structured macromolecular substrates, which are necessary in order to implement molecular nanolithography, has been addressed by combining "designer" synthetic DNA with biosynthetically derived plasmid components. By design, these one dimensional templates are composed of domains which contain sites which are recognized, and therefore addressable by either complementary DNA sequences and/or selected enzymes. Such design is necessary in order to access the nominal 2 nm linewidth potential resolution of nanolithography on these one-dimensional substrates. The recognition and binding properties of DNA ensure that the lithographic process is intrinsically self-organizing, and therefore self-aligning, a necessity for assembly processes at the requisite resolution. Another requirement of this molecular epitaxy approach is that the substrate must be immobilized. The challenge of robust surface immobilization is being addressed via the production of the equivalent of molecular tube sockets. In this application, multi-valent core-shell fluorescent quantum dots provide a mechanism to prepare surface attachment sites with a pre-determined 1:1 attachment site : substrate (DNA) molecule ratio.
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