Stalwart R&D bastion IBM has recently demonstrated (PDF) carbon-based graphene transistors operating at an impressive 26GHz.
Graphene, a planar sheet of hexagonally-aligned carbon only one atom thick, has been lauded for having the highest electron mobility of any substance known to man. Electron mobility describes the relative ease at which electrons are compelled to form a current in the presence of an electric field like one might find in a PC component. Graphene also boasts an exceptionally low resistivity at room temperature and has been praised for its possibilities in the burgeoning field of spintronics.
In the experiment, the IBM team harnessed a sheet of graphene to produce a transistor that operated at 26GHz through “FET-like behavior.” Field effect transmission has been used in silicon electronics for decades to control the flow of electrons to represent binary ones and zeroes through subtle variations in an electric charge.
Though silicon transistors are destined to be as small as 11nm if Intel gets its way, future shrinks below 10nm will leave silicon unable to contain the electrons necessary for transistor switching. It is hoped that smaller and more robust materials like graphene will be able to stave off electron tunneling in the preservation of Moore’s Law.
While other experiments in materials like indium phosphide have yielded 1THz transistors, no single technology has made gains like graphene. Invented just last year, graphene transistors have already eclipsed the performance that silicon transistors took 40 years to achieve.
For all the wonder of graphene, it remains a commercially-unviable product that costs more than $1000 for a sheet that measures no larger than the cross-section of a human hair. It is hoped that investment, research, and an uptick in production will bring reason to the outlandish price.
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