Carbon material called graphene is fast replacing silicon (the material at the heart of all computer chips) in electronics. Graphene - a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, could allow electronics to process information and produce radio transmissions 10 times better than silicon-based devices. Usage of graphene produces faster and more powerful cell phones, computers as well as other electronics.
However, until now, the switch from silicon to carbon had not been possible because technologists believed they needed graphene in the same form as the silicon used to make chips: a single crystal of material 8 or 12 inches wide. The hurdle in achieving these is that the largest single-crystal graphene sheets made to date have been no wider than a couple millimeters, not big enough for a single chip.
来自美国普林斯顿大学的研究人员发现，只要可以将小石墨芯片替换为替换硅芯片，只要他们可以将小石墨烯晶体放在芯片的活性区域。他们开发了一种新的方法来实现这一目标，并通过制造高性能工作石墨烯晶体管来证明这一目标。在他们的新方法中，研究人员制作了一个特殊的邮票，该邮票由一系列微小的扁平支柱组成，每个柱子宽1/10毫米。他们将柱子压在一块石墨（纯碳）上，切成薄的碳片，这些碳板粘在支柱上。然后将邮票取出，剥去一些石墨烯的原子层。最后，将邮票与更大的晶圆对准并压制，将石墨烯的斑块精确地放置在晶体管的位置。该技术就像打印一样。通过重复该过程并使用各种形状的邮票（研究人员还制作了条带，而不是圆形支柱），所有的活性区域都覆盖着石墨烯的单晶。一项使该技术成为可能的创新是用一种特殊的材料涂上邮票，该材料在寒冷时会粘在碳上并在温暖时释放，从而使相同的邮票可以捡起并释放石墨烯。研究团队的实验室迈出了下一步并建立了晶体管：在其印刷石墨烯晶体上的小开关开关。 Their transistors displayed high performance; they were more than 10 times faster than silicon transistors in moving "electronic holes" - a key measure of speed.
The new technology could find almost immediate use in radio electronics, such as cell phones and other wireless devices that require high power output.

Graphene could also replace indium tin oxide as an electrode material in displays. Transparent conducting films are an essential part of many gadgets including common liquid crystal displays for computers, TVs and mobile phones. The underlying technology uses thin metal-oxide films based on indium. But indium is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity and, moreover, its supply is expected to be exhausted within just 10 years. A research team from Manchester has now demonstrated highly transparent and highly conductive films that can be produced cheaply by dissolving chunks of graphite into graphene and then spraying the suspension onto a glass surface. The research team has demonstrated what it believes to be the first liquid crystal devices with graphene electrodes. It is believed that only a few small, incremental steps remain for this technology to reach a mass production stage.