The silicon chip is soon set to get competition as IBM has created a semiconductor chip that is made from grapheme.
The graphene-based circuit has been created by a team at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, New York. The advanced circuit apparently performs 10,000 times better than current options and is based on an earlier proof-of-concept circuit the company made in 2011.
For the uninitiated, graphene is a crystalline version of carbon which is known to take in a honeycomb lattice shape on the atomic scale. Graphene is known for its strength and conductivity and is often seen as an alternative to silicon, which currently accounts for most electronic production. Graphene also transports electricity 200 times faster than silicon.
The graphene-based semiconductor chip is fully functional and could possibly be applied in wireless communication. If the chip works properly, it could possibly allow mobile devices like tablets and smartphones to transmit data faster to each other, as well as their surroundings.
The researchers at IBM integrated graphene into a radio frequency receiver, which basically translates radio signals into intelligible information that can be sent and received. The graphene-based receiver was built on a chip that had an area of 0.6 square mm.
The research team tested the chip by sending a text message "IBM." The message was sent via the graphene-based receiver and processed digital transmission on a 4.3GHz radio frequency. The digits transmitted were "01001001," "01000010," and "01001101", which is basically a binary encoding of the letters "IBM." The message was sent without any distortion.
"This is the first time that someone has shown graphene devices and circuits to perform modern wireless communication functions comparable to silicon technology," said Supratik Guha, IBM Research director of physical sciences, in a release.
Guha also revealed that the biggest challenge for the team was "taming this new material so we could process it properly, and without damaging it."
However, one of the major challenges facing the IBM researchers is bringing down the cost of graphene manufactured to the same level as silicon. The team used an oven to manufacture graphene, but the production of the same would be cheaper if it was made in larger batches at room temperature.
The IBM researchers have published their work in the journal Nature Communications.
