My Note: A nice introduction to the work being done with graphene at the nanolevel, and with patterned regrowth, coming soon to your THz scanner or device.
Electrical engineers have already achieved some pretty amazing feats. The
integrated circuits used in everything from computers to coffee makers are
incredibly slim these days, allowing us to develop a new breed of electronic
gadgets that includes everything from every day smartphones, to more minuscule
devices like the Picotux (the world’s
smallest PC, measuring just 35mm×19mm×19mm) and even fuel
cells measuring just 3mm long.
But these achievements haven’t stopped researchers from Cornell University
from thinking they can take ‘slim’ to a whole new level – an atomic level to be
precise.
Using substances called graphene (a semi-conductor)
and hexagonal boron nitride (an insulator), which are basically one atom-thick
sheets of repeating atoms, researchers led by Jiwoong Park have opened a new
frontier in nano-scale
electronics.
Their technique, which they’ve termed patterned regrowth, involves
the precise placement of atoms on these sheets in order to manipulate their
electronic properties, and could possibly lead to the development of
next-generation electronic circuits – transparent circuit boards that are so
thin they could easily float on the surface of water, or even on air, while
maintaining both their rigidity and a high level of efficiency.
Graphene and boron nitride are grown using a process
known as photolithography, which
ensures that the sheets are perfectly smooth and flat, with no creases or bumps,
making them ideal substances for an atomically thin circuit.
Park likened the technique for making his circuits to that of stenciling;
firstly, the graphene was grown on a copper base; next, selected areas of the
copper underneath the graphene were exposed, in order to create a ‘pattern’ for
their circuit. These exposed areas were then filled in with boron nitride, which
also grows well on copper and fills all of these ‘gaps’ perfectly.The end result is a microscopically thin ‘film’ that can easily be peeled off its copper base and used as an electronic circuit, with the graphene atoms acting as the ‘wire’ and the boron nitride assuming the role of the circuit board.
Cool stuff to be sure, but the best thing about it is that researchers believe that the process for making atomic circuit boards may soon commercially viable. The researchers are already highly-skilled in growing graphene, and the photolithography technique is widely used in the production of integrated circuits on flat silicone. With a little refinement, a future of genuinely transparent electronics might not be that far off.
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