Graphene in High-Frequency Electronics This two-dimensional form
of carbon has properties not seen in any other substance
Transistors are one of the building blocks of electronic
circuits, but unless they are connected, they don’t have any
useful function. Prior to the 1960s, transistors were connected
to other electronic components—resistors, capacitors, other
transistors and so on—by wires, then made into items such as
radios and televisions. Then the era of modern electronics
started, with the invention of the monolithic integrated
circuit, in which all these components were fabricated together
on a single substrate, eliminating bulky wiring, which led to
miniaturization and a tremendous increase in function and
variety. All of today’s radios, phones and computers are made
this way. With that in mind, our team at IBM decided to start
work on an integrated graphene circuit, while also developing
improved graphene transistors. We realized we shouldn’t wait
until the transistors were perfect before we tried t