Molectronics has nothing to do with moles or, indeed, tunneling of the earthen sort. A coinage for "molecular electronics," the term refers to a gee-whiz field in which individual chemically linked molecules are used to grow ICs. Backers of a new company called Molecular Electronics—what else?—may be on the verge of commercializing the technology quicker than anyone expected.

Mark Reed, a cofounder and CTO of the Chicago-based start-up, told the New York Times that the firm is ready to show that the technology's capabilities "are really doable things." Executives said they'd overcome thorny research obstacles and would be ready to make working devices in 18 to 24 months. The first prototypes reportedly will be memory devices.

The fact that researchers are making the components in lab beakers has caused hyperventilating in the semiconductor industry. The manufacturing method promises gargantuan savings over fabs costing $2 billion or more. However, researchers still face major manufacturing hurdles. Chief among them is devising a method to identify malfunctioning circuits while keeping billions of properly working ones.

The credibility of the company's claims rest to a great degree on the pedigree of its staff, which includes chemists from Penn State, a theoretical physicist, and Reed, who is chairman of Yale's electrical engineering department.