Quantumwise graphene transistor
Proof-of-concept demonstration of graphene-based electronics has been provided by demonstrating DC operation of field-effect transistors (FETs) – the fundamental building block of modern microelectronics – using graphene flakes extracted from natural graphite (2), and more recently, graphene films produced by decomposition of the surface of silicon carbide (SiC) substrates (3) or by chemical vapor deposition of hydrocarbons on catalytic metal surfaces (4). As the thinnest possible electronic material of merely one atom thick, graphene offers great potential to create the smallest and fastest transistors among all semiconductor materials (1). The high carrier mobility in graphene makes it a promising candidate for high-speed electronic devices. The graphene transistor IBM demonstrated is already faster than the state-of-the-art transistors today, which have a cut off of 40 Ghz using the same architecture. The paper was penned by Phaedon Avouris, IBM Fellow and manager of the company's nanometer scale science and technology research team.īig Blue along with DARPA is looking to develop carbon electronics. IBM's paper, which will be published in Science, details how the latest graphene breakthrough could enable new communications devices and electronics. In a nutshell, graphene is like "atomic scale chick wire." Graphene's properties could lead to faster transistors. Graphene is a special form of graphite, consisting of a layer of carbon atoms packed in honeycomb lattice. IBM Research on Friday will announce that it has demonstrated a radio-frequency graphene transistor with the highest frequency (100 GigaHertz) so far.