Is Carbon the Future of Electronics?

Michael S. Fuhrer
Department of Physics and Center for Superconductivity Research
University of Maryland

In recent years, scientists have begun to explore electronics based on single atomic plane of graphite (called "graphene"); either laid flat on a substrate, or rolled into a seamless cylinder called a carbon nanotube. Bulk graphite is a semimetal which has found little use in electronics applications. However, controlling the structure of graphene on the nanoscale allows enormous new control over its electronic properties: cutting graphene into strips or rolling it into nanotubes creates metals and semiconductors depending on the direction of the strip or tube relative to the underlying lattice, with energy gaps controlled by the width of the strip or tube. I will discuss what makes graphene so unusual in this regard, and how carbon nanotubes and graphene sheets can be used to make electronics elements such as fast transistors, high-current-density interconnects, memory elements, and sensors, which greatly outperform their silicon and copper counterparts. I will also discuss the possibility of revolutionary new graphene electronics elements relying on quantum mechanical principles.

Biography
Dr. Fuhrer earned his BS in physics from the University of Texas at Autstin, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He held a postdoctoral research position at Berkeley for two years before crossing the country to become an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland. Fuhrer's research focuses on several aspects of nanoscale electronics. With the use of "pre-assembled" nanoscale components, structures are built which are useful for studying the fundamental physics of electrons or phonons in small structures. "Pre-assembled" refers to materials that are made using macroscopic techniques but are naturally structured at the nanoscale in one or more dimensions. These "pre-assembled" components are likely to lead the way to new technological devices. Research within Fuhrer's group combines these pre-assembled nanoscale materials with lithography and ananlysis tools to build and study new nanoscale electronic and electromechanical devices. Current research includes carbon nanotube and single-molecule electronics, as well as single layer nanopatches.

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