Aligned insulated graphene sheets hold promise for 3D chips

Researchers from Manchester University have used a new side-view imaging method to individually visualize graphene sheets in a layered insulated stack of sheets. They found out that each graphene layer in such a structure is perfectly aligned, even with 10 layers. This was a surprise as they expected the graphene to be distorted.

This means that stacking graphene sheets does not degrade their properties. This means that you can stack graphene to create 3D chips - which will have a massive improvement in processing speed or storage capacity compared to a 2D chip.

The imagine technique used a focused ion beam to shoot gallium ions at the stack. The ions dug into the material, and when a slice was removed, a transmission electron microscope was used to view it at the atomic level.

Posted: Aug 01,2012 by Ron Mertens