Functional Electronics

(also functional microelectronics or molecular electronics), a term encountered in the scientific and technical literature for a trend in microelectronics. Functional electronics encompasses the problem of fabricating continuous combined media with predetermined properties and of producing various electronic devices by physical integration. Physical integration is the use of physical principles and effects that make it possible to produce components that perform the functions of a circuit or even a system; it is contrasted with technological integration, which is the fabrication of integrated circuits based on functionally simple elements, such as transistors, diodes, or resistors.