I.B.M. Researchers Create High-Speed Graphene Circuits

[n2doc]

By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: June 9, 2011

I.B.M. researchers said Thursday that they had designed high-speed circuits from graphene, an ultra-thin material that has a host of promising applications, from high-bandwidth communication to a new generation of low-cost smartphone and television displays.


An image of a completed integrated circuit made from graphene, with detail at top.
The I.B.M. advance, which the researchers reported in the journal Science, is a circuit known as a broadband frequency mixer that was built on a wafer of silicon. Widely used in all kinds of communications products, the circuits shift signals from one frequency to another.

In the Science paper, the I.B.M. researchers describe a demonstration in which they deposited several layers of graphene on a silicon wafer, then created circuits based on graphene transistors and components known as inductors. They demonstrated frequency mixing up to speeds of 10 gigahertz.

In the past I.B.M. has created stand-alone graphene transistors, but not complete electronic circuits.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/technology/10chip.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss