Samsung tests graphene transistors

Graphene has always been considered a vast improvement over its current silicon overlord, but a few practical issues have always kept its takeover bid grounded. Samsung, however, thinks it’s cracked at least one of those — graphene’s inability to switch off current.

Previous attempts to use graphene as a transistor have involved converting it to a semi-conductor, but this also reduces its electron mobility, negating much of the benefit. Samsung’s Advanced Institute of Technology has created a graphene-silicon “Schottky barrier” that brings graphene this much-needed current-killing ability, without losing its electron-shuffling potential. The research also explored potential logic device applications based on the same technology. So, does this mean we’ll finally get our nano-sized super computer implant? Maybe, not just yet, but the wheels have certainly been oiled.

Samsung’s PR announcement available here