Earlier this month, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlantapublisheda paper in Nature.
The study discusses producing epigraphene from silicon carbide (SiC).
Semiconducting epitaxial graphene (SEC), also known as epigraphene, has far greater electron mobility than silicon.
This exponential boost means that chips using epigraphene could potentially hit cycles in the terahertz range.
Making epigraphene builds on a process that has produced graphene for half a century.
The wafer produced is charge-neutral, so when removed from the tube, it instantly becomes doped by oxygen.
According to de Heer, the process is relativelyinexpensive.
Scientists have produced semiconducting graphene since 2008 by heating SiC in a vacuum.
However, it lacked a measurable bandgap, so transistors cannot turn on and off.
De Heer’s and his team’s modified method eliminates this problem.
Previous efforts to produce bandgaps have involved modifying a substrate with graphene nanoribbons or nanotubes.
These methods have not yielded successful results because they require high precision when depositing the ribbons on the substrate.
Researchers have had more success creating a bandgap by deforming the graphene (wrinkling).
By comparison, silicon has a bandgap of 1.12 eV.
As for silicon computing, the team already knows SEC is a superior semiconductor with far lower resistance.
Therefore, faster speeds and cooler operating temperatures are achievable.
However, there is no easy way to incorporate SEC into traditional silicon electronics.
To reap the benefits the material has to offer requires a complete paradigm shift in current manufacturing practices.
“I compare this work to the Wright brothers' first 100-meter flight,” says de Heer.
“It will mainly depend on how much work is done to develop it.”
Image credit:Chris McKenney
