Microchips containing ribbons of carbon just a few atoms wide could let us build powerful computers while also reducing their power consumption.
The speed and efficiency of computers and smartphones depend on the flow of electrons inside transistors, which are normally based on silicon. There have been lots of efforts to develop transistors based on carbon because of its superior electrical properties, but a key challenge has been making wires out of carbon to transport electrons between transistors.
鈥淛ust like the traditional silicon-based architectures we are using today, any carbon-based transistor technology still requires some form [of] interconnects that allow for the communication between individual transistors or other circuit components,鈥� says Felix Fischer at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Fischer and his team developed a way of turning graphene nanoribbons 鈥� ribbons of carbon that are only a few atoms wide 鈥� into conductors, which could be used to connect carbon-based transistors.
The researchers built their nanoribbons by first creating smaller graphene building blocks and connecting them together. Graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon, is known for its exotic properties. 鈥淥ur molecular bottom-up graphene nanoribbon synthesis allows us to create a very unusual type of electronic state,鈥� says Fischer.
Previous attempts to do the same thing using carbon nanotubes have been limited, says Fischer. 鈥淵ou always end up with a complex mixture of semiconducting and metallic carbon nanotubes that is incredibly challenging to separate,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his problem remains a grand challenge in carbon nanotube research and has not been solved for [more than] 20 years.鈥�
The next step will be to build circuits containing graphene nanoribbons and test whether they can outperform the most advanced silicon-based semiconductor technologies. If successful, Fischer says they could be integrated into everyday devices, such as smartphones, in the future.
鈥淭hink about the possible impact of a mobile phone with comparable performance to the fastest desktop computers, but with a power consumption that requires you only to charge it every other month,鈥� he says.
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