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Pencils could replace copper

by on25 July 2007

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Key discovery


Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have worked out that graphene could be used as a possible heir to copper and silicon in nanoelectronics.

Graphite, the common material used in most pencils, is made up of countless layers of graphene.  The layers can be broken apart by using sticky tape.

Saroj Nayak, an associate professor in Rensselaer’s Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, findings give researchers a blueprint that should allow them to purposefully make entire batches of graphene. Nayak said that it was a step towards  developing a way to mass produce metallic graphene that could one day replace copper as the primary interconnect material on chips.

Metallic graphene has excellent conductivity even at room temperature, electrons pass effortlessly, near the speed of light and with little resistance.

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