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Nascent Graphene Institute Makes Steps Toward Transistors

Posted by Soulskill on from the bringing-the-horizon-a-bit-closer dept.

judgecorp writes "A research team at Manchester has taken a big step toward building transistors with graphene. So far graphene's marvelous conductivity has actually proved a drawback, but the team has sandwiched a layer of molybdenum disulfide between layers of graphene to provide a high on/off ratio. Also, the British Government is finding £50 million to fund Manchester as a center for graphene study and development, led by two professors there, Sir Kostya Novoselov and Sir Andre Geim, who shared the 2010 Nobel prize for Physics for their work on graphene."

22 comments

  1. Primer post by cbaderivado · · Score: 1

    So...are we a step closer to find graphene-based life form or not?

    1. Re:Primer post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If we can make a graphene-circuit printer that has graphene-circuitry and all the specs/mechanisms neccessary to build a copy of itself, maybe.

      I like the potential discussed in the actual article, low power use touchscreens and a fairly big leap in CPU size/efficency. I've been interested in the tube form of carbon for a while, but it looks like this stuff shares a few of the advantages and is easier to produce.

  2. Three atoms thick glass, as an insulator? by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Researchers have created the world's thinnest pane of glass—and it looks oddly familiar. The glass, made of silicon and oxygen, formed accidentally when the scientists were making graphene, an atom-thick sheet of carbon, on copper-covered quartz. They believe an air leak caused the copper to react with the quartz, which is also made of silicon and oxygen, producing a glass layer with the graphene. The glass is a mere three atoms thick—the minimum thickness of silica glass—which makes it two-dimensional. [...] In addition to demonstrating how graphene makes it possible to produce previously unfeasible 2D-materials, ultra-thin glass could be used in semiconductor or graphene transistors."

    http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/02/scienceshot-two-dimensional-glass.html

    How about three atoms thick glass as an insulator between graphene layers?

    1. Re:Three atoms thick glass, as an insulator? by Defenestrar · · Score: 1

      It may be worth looking into, but I have a suspicion that quartz has a higher capacitance than Mo. Again, I am not an expert in this area, but I think a transistor wants a pretty low capacitance so it can be driven from on to off (or off to on) without too much hassle. It seems that a higher capacitance would make for a slower transistor due to charge drain.

    2. Re:Three atoms thick glass, as an insulator? by dkf · · Score: 1

      It depends on what you're using the device for. High capacitance can be very useful for things like power storage (and, if the leakage current is low enough, memory). You're right that you don't want it in the logic circuits though.

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  3. Re:Down with America by chromas · · Score: 5, Funny

    He didn't even bother to initialize the variables. I sure hope t != 0.

  4. Wearable Computers by jpwilliams · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm wondering if the mentioned heat reduction would be enough to make wearable computers more plausible and usable then they are today ...

    1. Re:Wearable Computers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last I remember on the cyber-pants theory was that power consumption and component vulnerability were bigger obstacles than heat dissipation. This has the potential to improve power efficiency, but I am not sure how it affects fragility.

    2. Re:Wearable Computers by rtaylor · · Score: 1

      What exactly about todays portable computers (cell phones) do you find underpowered to use it as a wearable?

      We've reached the golden age of wearables. Nearly everybody who wants one can have one. The interface sucks but that isn't the fault of the hardware.

      A massive improvement in battery capacity would be nice though I can use my Nexus S for a full day (I use it as a portable data-entry device) with 4 extra AAA batteries.

      --
      Rod Taylor
    3. Re:Wearable Computers by jpwilliams · · Score: 1

      I guess a mobile is almost like a wearable computer. I'm picturing something that's actually integrated with clothing or, extremely, the body. Something not controlled exclusively by the fingers and voice. If the components are integrated with the clothing, that's where the heat reduction might be important.

      I'm thinking more like the computers in Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson or the visors in Counting Heads, which are kind of like ball caps with a HUD.

  5. Re:Down with America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks

  6. Other limitations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's nice to see this future technology that promises insane clock frequencies, but it seems like it would quickly arrive at a different problem...
    At the proposed maximum of 300 Ghz (in the old FA), light only travels about 1 mm per cycle... In a vacuum.
    Electrons would travel significantly slower, depending on the materials and architecture used. What happens when your clock frequency runs so much faster than the signal itself?

  7. I propose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that these incrnations be known as gransistors to hight light the technology, or mansisters to hight light their birth city.

  8. Be Careful... by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

    When walking around the Graphene Institute. The halls are dark and slippery.

  9. Re:Down with America by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    n/t

    Thanks for the courtesy of the "n/t".

    I get the image of a scared teenager in the Midwest writing this, then remembering that his mom always told him to follow netiquette.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  10. Re:fiddlesticks by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    Fuck me, Dick van Dyke posts on slashdot.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it