IBM Researchers has opened a bandgap for graphene field-effect transistors (FET) that could someday rival complementary metal oxide semiconductor. This is one of the last roadblocks to commercialization of Graphene-based technology, according to IBM.
Graphene has a higher carrier mobility than Silicon, but lacks a band gap, which has kept the on-off ratio of graphene transistors dismally lowâusually less than 10 compared to hundreds for silicon. Now IBM says that they have managed to create a tunable electrical bandgap (up to 130meV) for their bi-layer graphene FETs. And larger bandgaps are possible, too.
Next, IBM plans to begin optimizing its design by scaling down the thickness of its insulating layers in order to achieve even higher electric fields, to open a wider band gap, and to further improve the on-off current ratios of graphene FETs.