Power dissipation in clocking wires for clocked molecular quantum-dot cellular automata

In the molecular quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) paradigm clocking wires are used to produce an electric field which is perpendicular to the device plane of surface-bound molecules and is sinusoidally modulated in space and time. This clocking field guides the data flow through the molecular QCA array. Power is dissipated in clocking wires due to the non-zero resistance of the conductors. We analyze quantitatively the amount of power dissipated in the clocking wires and find that in the relevant parameter range it is fairly small. Dissipation in the molecular devices themselves will likely dominate the energy budget.