Engineers at IBM Research have built the world’s most advanced graphene-based chip, with performance that’s 10,000 times better than previous graphene ICs. The key to the breakthrough is a new manufacturing technique that allows the graphene to be deposited on the chip without it being damaged (something that has heretofore been very hard to achieve). Perhaps more importantly, though, this new method is actually compatible with standard silicon CMOS processes. In short, we are closer than ever before to realizing a commercial graphene computer chip.

More – http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175727-ibm-builds-graphene-chip-thats-10000-times-faster-using-standard-cmos-processes

Interesting notion.

Michael V said:

Interesting notion.

IBM has got a fair run at going down the absolute the wrong route. They spent about a billion dollars chasing Josephson Junction, and that’s when a billion dollars was real money :)

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175727-ibm-builds-graphene-chip-thats-10000-times-faster-using-standard-cmos-processes

“What’s the breakthrough, then? Basically, previous attempts at building GFETs (graphene field-effect transistors) have used standard BEOL (back end of line) processes, where the active components (the transistor and its graphene channel) are built on the wafer first, and then the rest of the passive components (capacitors, resistors) and interconnects are added. The problem is, due to graphene’s weak adhesion and fragile single-atom-thick composition, this process damages the GFETs. To get around this, IBM builds the passive components first, and then only deposits a layer of graphene right at the end, to complete the fabrication of the transistors. It’s a relatively simple change, but it works rather well. …

….in theory, graphene is capable of operating at frequencies as high as 500GHz, well beyond any other material currently used in RF applications”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

“Graphene is a 2-dimensional, crystaline allotrope of carbon. In graphene, carbon atoms are densely packed in a regular sp2-bonded atomic-scale chicken wire (hexagonal) pattern. Graphene can be described as a one-atom thick layer of graphite. It is the basic structural element of other allotropes, including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. It can also be considered as an indefinitely large aromatic molecule, the limiting case of the family of flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

High-quality graphene is strong, light, nearly transparent and an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. Its interactions with other materials and with light and its inherently two-dimensional nature produce unique properties, such as the bipolar transistor effect, ballistic transport of charges and large quantum oscillations….

…..For integrated circuits, graphene has a high carrier mobility, as well as low noise, allowing it to be used as the channel in a field-effect transistor. Single sheets of graphene are hard to produce and even harder to make on an appropriate substrate.

In 2008, the smallest transistor so far, one atom thick, 10 atoms wide was made of graphene. IBM announced in December 2008 that they had fabricated and characterized graphene transistors operating at GHz frequencies. In May 2009, an n-type transistor was announced meaning that both n and p-type graphene transistors had been created. A functional graphene integrated circuit was demonstrated – a complementary inverter consisting of one p- and one n-type graphene transistor. However, this inverter suffered from a very low voltage gain.

According to a January 2010 report, graphene was epitaxially grown on SiC in a quantity and with quality suitable for mass production of integrated circuits. At high temperatures, the quantum Hall effect could be measured in these samples. IBM built ‘processors’ using 100 GHz transistors on 2-inch (51 mm) graphene sheets.”