Thermochemical nanolithography: the tip of an atomic force microscope uses heat to turn graphene oxide into reduced graphene oxide, a substance that can be used to produce nanocircuits. Image Credit: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Today’s silicon transistors are nearly as small as allowed by the laws of physics and further miniaturization will require a different substrate. Graphene is widely regarded as the most promising candidate to replace silicon as the building block of transistors. Graphene is a carbon sheet that is a single atom thick. Electrons meet with less resistance when they travel along graphene compared to silicon so graphene nanoelectronics could be faster and consume less power than silicon.
Read the article at: Physorg.