Getting Closer To Using Graphene For Electronics

tgrigsby writes "Students at Georgia Tech have developed a new 'templated growth' technique that allows fabrication of nanoribbons with smooth edges and high conductivity. Predicting the ability to produce features no more than 10 nanometers wide and with extremely low resistance, Yike Hu and John Hankinson may be developing the next generation of processor technology."

Comments

finally

[leaen]

So now it is just ten years to graphene computers?

Re:finally

[ciderbrew]

It will be here before you know it. Time speeeeeds up I'm sure.

Re:finally

[show me altoids]

Is that the one in Atlanta Atlanta?

Re:finally

[kelemvor4]

More importantly; it can be used in porn applications.

Re:finally

[Gilmoure]

And fusion power plants, home hologram units, flying cars and jet packs.

How to overclock?

[LiquidCoooled]

How to overclock?
If the computer chips are made of graphene, will we have to use silicon pencils to do the overclocking trick?

Re:Have we delayed the death of Moore's Law?

[somersault]

I thought he was referring to the change when we hit quantum computing, and if that is the case then.. no. I didn't RTFA or the comments of course.

So now will the time line be...

[Tideflat]

So now will the time line for computers be vacuum tube -> transistors -> integrated circuits -> graphene?

yup

[Anonymous Coward]

it buts right up against Interstate 75/85 (ok, not quite redundant)

I went there but now live in the burbs near the Trader Joe's at the intersection of Roswell Road & Johnson Ferry (as opposed to the Trader Joe's at the intersection of Johnson Ferry & the OTHER Roswell Road). the two Roswell Roads actually intersect but I'm afraid to drive through that intersection as I'm convinced there's a singularity in the middle of it...

don't underestimate our ability to be redundant down here!

Re:yup

[Gilmoure]

I may have once eaten at that restaurant on Peachtree and Peachtree but time twisted so I'm not sure if I'm still waiting to do that.

Melted Nanoribbons

[Punko]

Oh ho! Another source for Melted Nanoribbons! Can't wait to get them to Jita before the market crashes

Am I missing something?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought it was impossible to build a transistor from Graphene since it lacks a band-gap. No band-gap -> no transistor... no transistor -> no computing device.

Re:Am I missing something?

[mycroft822]

According to TFA: "We will not be following the model of using standard field-effect transistors (FETs), but will pursue devices that use ballistic conductors and quantum interference. We are headed straight into using the electron wave effects in graphene."

Re:Am I missing something?

[Gilmoure]

I've started upgrading my Gravy Gun Drop Rovers to use dissociative wave effects on the damnable University.

Valuable contribution to graphine

[planckscale]

If the US wants to vault ahead of other countries making the next generation of computers we should be taking a damn hard look at graphene and get low cost manufacturing functioning for this, what I believe, is the most exciting prospect in computer technology. I think this is the closest we'll ever get to a superconductor with quantum properties using extremely low power and temperatures and it's really ingenious how the scientists have been inventing technologies to explore graphene. I applaud the strides that have been made by these researchers; in my book they deserve the multi-million dollar contracts. Not the sports stars and celebrities...

Not according to IBM

[The Grim Reefer2]

"IBM has revealed that graphene can't fully replace silicon inside CPUs, as a graphene transistor can't actually be completely switched off."

Re:Not according to IBM

[silverpig]

From the link: "there is an important distinction between the graphene transistors that we demonstrated and the transistors used in a CPU. Unlike silicon, graphene does not have an energy gap, and therefore, graphene cannot be "switched off," resulting in a small on/off ratio." One of the issues with graphene is it doesn't have a band gap. You can create one if you can successfully dope it (unlikely), or if you can put it into a very narrow by relatively long shape (say 2 nm wide by 50 nm long). Once you have a band gap, you can turn it off completely.

Re:Not according to IBM

[silverpig]

Oh also, they say they want to make transistors which use quantum interference to shut them off, not an electric field effect. In this case you don't need a band gap in the same way. You make a ballistic device (on), and then you apply some potential to the edges to mess up the quantum states so they interfere and the thing insulates. "This means that the way we will be doing graphene electronics will be different," he explained. "We will not be following the model of using standard field-effect transistors (FETs), but will pursue devices that use ballistic conductors and quantum interference. We are headed straight into using the electron wave effects in graphene."

Graphene for electronics

[tahyk]

1st: This story is not new. They have paper out there about this techniques. (2010 Aug) http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v5/n10/full/nnano.2010.192.html 2nd: sub-10 nm ribbons have a bandgap due to quantum confinement. Their 4K measurement doesn't really proves it, so something is not kosher. Or at least this is why they say "metallic" nanoribbons. That techinque is not that useful for digital electronics. 3rd: There are other ways for doing sub-10 nm GNRs, which are actually semiconductors. This is what I do for living. I think it is still promising for future electronics. It is just my opinion, while there's no proof, neither con, nor pro. Others (IBM) might have different opinions about it, but this question is not decided yet.

Re:The real ?

[rgbatduke]

No, the real question is -- will anybody still be able to run Windows!