China’s Graphene Copper Innovation Consortium will assist with bringing graphene to chip manufacturing, offering ten times the performance of silicon-based chips
With the limitations of silicon-based semiconductor technology looming each year, companies are devising ways to produce more robust and more efficient chip technology in the future. Graphene has exceptionally rich electron mobility due to the surface consisting of a low amount of electron-scattering impurities. On a performance level, compared to silicon-based chips, graphene offers ten times the performance and low consumption of power. The Chint Group, Shanghai Electric Cable Institute, Shanghai Graphene Industry Technology Functional Platform, and many other institutions will work together to usher in graphene-based chips in the future. Graphene comprises an individual layer positioned “in a hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms.” Graphene is two hundred times stronger than steel. The strength is unmatched compared to silicon. At the same time, thermal and electrical conductivity is better than copper, which would be essential in the development of not only semiconductor chips, but thermal heat dissipation, efficient batteries, and more. Lastly, graphene is lightweight, measuring less than one milligram per square meter. In 2010, IBM Corporation demonstrated graphene wafers with transistor frequencies up to 100 GHz. The company stated that chips could be manufactured to offer transistor frequencies between 500 to 1000 GHz, but the company has not produced a graphene chip for mass production. But there is hope. It is anticipated that with the large number of companies researching graphene as a replacement for silicon in semiconductor chips, the marketplace that TSMC and Samsung Electronics dominate, if not monopolize, will be more open for businesses and institutions to profit from the manufacturing of such technology. The most significant limitations of graphene in semiconductor chips are in the cost of manufacturing and development. Graphene-based chips are complicated to produce and are highly expensive to create. Several years have passed since the introduction of the theory, but no one has obtained a stable level to begin mass-producing graphene chips for the world. News Source: Kuai Technology
