Three recent news items illuminate the promise and challenge on
the road to practical graphene electronics. In the first, IBM
announced a new speed record for an experimental graphene
transistor that looks exceptionally promising for processing
analog signals. It was produced on a “diamond-like carbon”
substrate using standard semiconductor manufacturing processes.
From “IBM shows smallest, fastest graphene processor“, by Agam
Shah: … The transistor has a cut-off frequency of 155GHz, making
it faster and more capable than the 100GHz graphene transistor
shown by IBM in February last year, said Yu-Ming Lin, an IBM
researcher. The research also shows that high-performance,
graphene-based transistors can be produced at low cost using
standard semiconductor manufacturing processes, Lin said. That
could pave the way for commercial production of graphene chips,
though Lin could not say when manufacturing of such chips would
begin. Commercialized graphene transistors will provide a
performance boost in applications r