There is a growing understanding that the progress of the conventional silicon technology will reach its physical, engineering and economic limits in near future. This fact, however, does not mean that progress in computing will slow down. What will take us beyond the silicon era are new nano-technologies that are being pursued in university and corporate laboratories around the world. In particular, molecular switching devices and systems that will self-assemble through molecular recognition are being designed and studied. Many labora tories are now testing new types of these and other...