Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new way to make Graphene using a "templated growth technique. The technique involves etching patterns into the silicon carbide surfaces on which epitaxial graphene is grown. The patterns serve as templates directing the growth of graphene structures, allowing the formation of nanoribbons of specific widths without the use of e-beams or other destructive cutting techniques. Graphene nanoribbons produced with these templates have smooth edges that avoid electron-scattering problems.
The new technique has been used to fabricate an array of 10,000 top-gated graphene transistors on a 0.24 square centimeter chip believed to be the largest density of graphene devices reported so far.