IBM announced (credit PhysOrg.com) that stacking two layers of graphene—one on top of the other—reduces noise that has bedeviled attempts to build nanoelectronic circuits from graphene. From “IBM Scientists ‘Quiet’ Unruly Electrons in Atomic Layers of Graphite“:
[IBM researchers] today announced a discovery that combats one of the industry’s most perplexing problems in using graphite — the same material found inside pencils — as a material for building nanoelectonic circuits vastly smaller than those found in today’s silicon based computer chips.
For the first time anywhere, IBM scientists have found a way to suppress unwanted interference of electrical signals created when shrinking graphene, a two-dimensional, single-atomic layer thick form of graphite, to dimensions just a few atoms long.
Scientists around the world are exploring the use of graphene as a much smaller replacement for today’s silicon transistors. Graphene is a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, similar to atomic-scale chicken-wire, which has attracted strong scientific and technological interest because it exhibits promising electrical properties and could be used in transistors and circuits at scales vastly smaller than components inside of today’s tiniest computer chips.
—Jim
