Graphene, a material that is extracted from graphite and made up of pure carbon, one of the most important elements in nature and which we find in daily objects like the lead of a pencil. Graphene stands out for being tough, flexible, light, and with a high resistance. Now it is being developed as a replacement for silicon in semiconductors. China has started using it to try to advance its position in the microchip wars.
Paragraf Lab in Cambridgeshire Somersham England has developed a graphene wafer that holds 9,000 chips. Paragraf is among the first companies in the world to mass-produce graphene based devices including sensors for electric cars. Its use is expected to increase the speed of semiconductors and reduce energy consumpton in the production of semiconductor chips. The company has landed about $90 million of funding so far, and expects to list on the stock market in the next four or five years.
An estimated 5,000 companies are now working on graphene products. Chinese manufacturer Huawei uses graphene in its Pocket S clamshell phone, and Apple may be testing graphene films for the iPhone 16, to avoid overheating. Chinese manufacturer Huawei uses graphene in its Pocket S clamshell phone.
In May 2023, the United Kingdom announced a One Billion Pound investment UK semiconductor industry over the next decade.
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new nanoelectronics platform based on graphene — a single sheet of carbon atoms.
The researchers used electron beam lithography, a method commonly used in microelectronics, to carve the graphene nanostructures and weld their edges to the silicon carbide chips. This process mechanically stabilizes and seals the graphene’s edges, which would otherwise react with oxygen and other gases that might interfere with the motion of the charges along the edge.
Finally, to measure the electronic properties of their graphene platform, the team used a cryogenic apparatus that allows them to record its properties from a near-zero temperature to room temperature.
According to published reports, Chinese scientists have made a significant breakthrough in the world of semiconductors, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. Just one atom thick (thereby termed “2D”), the new 12-long (30.5 cm) wafers can be cheaply and potentially revolutionize the semiconductor industry, its creators claim. While more work is needed to turn them into usable microchips, the new wafers could complement, even challenge, traditional silicon chips.
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