Forget light, carbon is the new silicon

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 21st December 2007
Comments (8) Stumble
A close up of the graphene sections. Alternatively, an alien vessel about to attack the Enterprise.

A close up of the graphene sections. Alternatively, an alien vessel about to attack the Enterprise.

I don't know what it is about the run up to Christmas this year, but it seems like every researcher in the world has a new scheme for ultra-fast processors that they're just itching to tell us. The latest plan comes courtesy of Princeton University boffins who have developed a system of putting transistors on a 'graphene' substrate – carbon formed into a honeycomb lattice.

Graphene-based processors promise – you guessed it – massive advantages in performance and power usage over traditional silicon-based chips. The reason we haven't been using it in the past is due to the difficulties in arranging graphene into a layer which is the right size to make chips out of. A standard silicon wafer used in the production of processors is between eight and twelve inches in diameter, and currently they can't get a slab of graphene anywhere near that.

Stephen Chou, professor of electrical engineering, reckons his team has the solution to the problem: put the graphene “only in the active areas of the chip”, which neatly side-steps the whole too-small problem.

The actual process used is described by Chou as being “like printing”, where a special stamp is pressed against a graphite block and then used to transfer layers just a few atoms thick to the wafer on which the transistors will be built. Like potato-printing, but on a teeny-tiny scale and with extremely expensive potatoes.

The researchers think the new technology could rapidly find its way into devices which “require high-power output” such as mobile 'phones. As usual, the sticking point is in scaling the technology to a level at which commercialisation becomes possible.

Do you think the technology holds promise, or will you believe it when you see it? Let us know via the forums.


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Forget light, carbon is the new silicon

Yes, you guessed it: another possible future processor technology. This time it's the stuff in pencils rather than the stuff that comes out of torches that'll save us all.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12/21/carbon_to_replace_silicon/1


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