New Graphene Allotrope Opens the Door to Atomic Scale Computer Chips
Supercomputer simulations have allowed the prediction of a new semiconducting material thought to far surpass the properties of conventional semiconductors. This new material can be built from defects patterned into its cousin graphene and offers the prospect of designing single atomic-layer integrated circuitry. Semiconducting graphene has been toted as the holy grail of graphene research but until now researchers had relied on an external agency or confining boundary to force a semiconducting nature onto the graphene. The new material however relies on defects purposefully patterned into graphene to endow it with an intrinsic semiconducting nature. This represents a pivotal advancement in being able to use defects to achieve custom tailored material properties as well as bringing us one step closer to atomic scale electronic devices.
Publications
A Semiconducting Graphene Allotrope, Physical Review B
