Research
team's work may lead to breakthrough in microchip technology
(May 28, 2012) Graphene is the wonder material that could solve the problem of
making ever faster computers and smaller mobile devices when current silicon
microchip technology hits an inevitable wall. Graphene, a single layer of
carbon atoms in a tight hexagonal arrangement, has been highly researched
because of its incredible electronic properties, with theoretical speeds 100
times greater than silicon. But putting the material into a microchip that
could outperform current silicon technology has proven difficult.
The answer
may lie in new nanoscale systems based on ultrathin layers of materials with
exotic properties. Called two-dimensional layered materials, these systems
could be important for microelectronics, various types of hypersensitive
sensors, catalysis, tissue engineering and energy storage. Researchers at Penn
State have applied one such 2D layered material, a combination of graphene and
hexagonal boron nitride, to produce improved transistor performance at an
industrially relevant scale.