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Graphene 'Big Mac' — One Step Closer To Microchips

Posted by timothy on from the chips-with-vinegar-on-the-side dept.

RogerRoast writes "Scientists at the University of Manchester have come one step closer to creating the next generation of computer chips using graphene. By sandwiching two sheets of graphene with another two-dimensional material, boron nitrate, the team created the graphene 'Big Mac' – a four-layered structure which could be the key to replacing the silicon chip in computers. The research results were published in Nature Physics (abstract; full version paywalled)."

2 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. No. by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What do you think happens to the boron when it captures a neutron? It gives off an alpha particle and changes to lithium. Your neutron shielding material would disintegrate very rapidly indeed.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  2. Re:Not boron nitrate. . . by MagusSlurpy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sorry, I meant article, it's not in the abstract. If you don't have a Nature subscription, you can still look at the supplementary info, it mentions BN several times, not BNO3.

    As to why we would expect it to replace silicon, it's because the graphene-to-boron nitride transition can be tuned by the application of a current to the graphene "top bun."

    I'm not sure that's a good enough reason for it to replace silicon, but it is kind of cool.

    --
    My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.