Not all researchers have given up on graphene for use in mainstream electronics. A new method to create a semiconducting version of the material opens up new horizons.
Researchers at Georgia Tech and Tianjin University have shown that a high-quality layer of graphene is formed when silicon is evaporated from the surface of a silicon carbide wafer under carefully controlled conditions. The resulting epitaxial graphene features a bandgap of 0.6 eV and electron mobilities ten times greater than silicon.
As soon as graphene was discovered, researchers theorized it could replace silicon in transistors on the basis that electrons zip through it at lightning speeds. The issue is that pure graphene isn’t a semiconductor but a bandgapless semimetal. To be able to switch conductivity on and off, it’s therefore necessary to induce a bandgap. After various strategies failed to do so in a commercially viable manner, the research community moved on to other 2D materials, such as molybdenum disulfide.
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