IBM team demos 100GHz graphene transistor
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Researchers at IBM have demonstrated an rf graphene transistor with the a cut off frequency of 100GHz, the highest figure yet achieved. According to the researchers, the accomplishment is a key milestone for the Carbon Electronics for RF Applications (CERA) program.
"A key advantage of graphene lies in the very high speeds in which electrons propagate, which is essential for achieving high speed, high performance next generation transistors," said Dr TC Chen, vice president, Science and Technology, IBM Research. "The breakthrough we are announcing demonstrates clearly that graphene can be used to produce high performance devices and integrated circuits."
The high frequency record was achieved using wafer scale, epitaxially grown graphene using processing technology compatible to that used in advanced silicon device fabrication. Uniform and high quality graphene wafers were synthesized by thermal decomposition of a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate. The graphene transistor itself used a metal top gate architecture and a gate insulator stack featuring a polymer and a high dielectric constant oxide.
Previously, the team had demonstrated graphene transistors with a cut off frequency of 26GHz using graphene flakes extracted from natural graphite.
The project is described more fully in the latest issue of Science.
