IBM Scientists Demonstrate Fastest Graphene Transistor
Source/Type: News - Staff reports

Author: CompoundSemi News Staff

February 10, 2010... IBM researchers have demonstrated a 100GigaHertz graphene transistor. This accomplishment is a key milestone for the Carbon Electronics for RF Applications (CERA) program funded by DARPA to develop next-generation communication devices. Graphene is a single atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded in a hexagonal honeycomb-like arrangement. It has unique electrical, optical, mechanical and thermal properties and its technological applications are being explored intensely.

The record was achieved with wafer-scale, epitaxially grown graphene using processing technology that is compatible to silicon device fabrication. The researchers used thermal decomposition of silicon carbide (SiC) substrate to synthesize the uniform, high-quality graphene wafers. The graphene transistor had a metal top-gate architecture and a novel gate insulator stack involving a polymer and a high dielectric constant oxide. The gate length was merely 240 nanometers, leaving plenty of space for further optimization through scaling down the gate length. As a comparison, the maximum frequency of silicon transistors with the same gate length is about 40Ghz.

"A key advantage of graphene lies in the very high speeds in which electrons propagate, which is essential for achieving high-speed, high-performance next generation transistors," said Dr. T.C. Chen, vice president, Science and Technology, IBM Research. "The breakthrough we are announcing demonstrates clearly that graphene can be utilized to produce high performance devices and integrated circuits." IBM News Release

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