A bistable quantum cell for cellular automata

Wc investigate the behavior of fcw-clcctron systems consisting of tightly-coupled quantum dots. Specifically, wc concentrate on a model cell which consists of five quantum dots occupied by two electrons. The mutual Coulombic repulsion, quantum confinement, and discrete nature of the electronic charge, lead to cell states which exhibit distinct charge alignments. Electrostatic coupling between neighboring cells is shown to result in bistable saturation of the cell polarization. Implications of this bistability for quantum cellular automata are discussed