By just changing the structure of the graph a little, it is possible to create electronic components that are much smaller and faster than today’s circuits.
Circuits made of silicon have driven the enormous development of electronics that we have seen in the last 50 years. But now we are starting to reach the limit of what is possible to do with silicon electronics . So researchers are now looking for new methods and one promising one is to use graphene as a material.
Graphene is perhaps best known for being lighter and stronger than steel, but now researchers from the University of Sussex in the UK have shown that it is also possible to make very fast electronic circuits from graphene .
The researchers have succeeded in changing the structure of the graphene at the nano level in a way that makes the graphene function as a transistor. Simply put, the researchers “wrinkle” graphene in a way that gives the material the desired electronic properties.
Researchers now believe that their method could revolutionize the electronics industry.
– These nanomaterials will make our computer circuits smaller and faster. This is absolutely necessary because computer manufacturers have now reached the limit of what they can achieve with traditional technology. In the end, this will make our computers and mobiles thousands of times faster in the future, says Alan Dalton, a professor at the University of Sussex and one of the researchers behind the study.
A challenge now is to find a good method for mass-producing graphene circuits. So far, it has been difficult to mass-produce graphene, but research shows that when researchers succeed, we can have a new computer revolution.
