A single-atom oscillator demonstrated by the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology could become the basis for a future bistable atomic switch. Scientists at the Center, part of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), injected a charge that switched a single cobalt atom between two locations on a crystalline substrate. The next step will be building a working device in a circuit. That will require a semiconducting or insulating substrate. Though they are years away, arrays of atomic-scale devices could provide the enhanced density needed for future memory devices.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192201737