Mass-producing graphene transistors

Graphene and other carbon allotropes promise dramatic improvements to electronics, but they all suffer from the same problem. These carbon-based structures are fragile and as a result difficult to produce. UCLA researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute hope that will change, at least in the case of graphene transistors, using their fabrication method reported in a paper this week. The process involves manufacturing the gate stacks on a different substrate before transferring them to the graphene in a careful physical transfer process that does not damage the delicate carbon lattice structure. In a UCLA press release, the researchers claim "this method has enabled self-aligned graphene transistors with the highest cutoff frequency to date — greater than 400 GHz." The implications for electronics, particularly high-frequency electronics, are vast.