IBM Working on “Wafer-Scale Graphene RF Nanoelectronics”

Graphene vs. nanotubes(click to view full) International Business Machines Corp., of Yorktown Heights, NY received a cost type contract for $2.4 million, under the “Wafer-Scale Graphene RF Nanoelectronics effort.” This effort is connected to DARPA’s CERA(Carbon Electronics for RF Applications) effort. The project’s goal is to investigate 2 challenges that are fundamental to development of high performance carbon electronics for military radio frequency applications in military systems. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH manages the contracts (FA8650-08-C-7838). At this time all funds have been obligated. IBM fellow Phaedon Avouris, the manager of Nanoscale Science at the Research Center, explains: “Unlike silicon, which has a bandgap that you bridge to have electrical transport, graphene does not have a gap, so you can’t ordinarily turn it on and off like a transistor. But we have discovered how to open up a gap by confining the electrons in a very narrow ribbon of material, in a manner similar to a nanotube, producing a quantum wire… Nanotubes and graphene are essentially the same thing, but nanotubes have nice well-defined edges, whereas it is very difficult to cut graphene into well defined ribbons… But by using unconventional cutting techniques, we […]