Researchers from IBM and University of California Riverside managed to make the slimmest graphene nanoribbon (GNR) ever - just 10 nm in width. Making one is virtually impossible, and the team created a large number of GNRs in parallel. The researchers say that the arrays cover about 50% of the prototype device channel area, which means that integrated circuits based on GNRs with the required high current densities are now possible. The narrow GNRs have a bandgap of about 0.2 eV.
The process the researchers used consists of two main steps: a top-down e-beam lithography step and a bottom-up self-assembly step involving a block copolymer template comprising alternating lamellae of the polymers PS and PMMA.
Posted: Sep 02,2012 by Ron Mertens