Graphene : Materially Better Carbon

Michael S. Fuhrer, Chun Ning Lau, and Allan H. MacDonald carbide,7 which is emerging as a promising material for electronics applications, and is the subject of the review by First and co-authors in this issue. Several researchers have recently revisited the growth of graphene on metal surfaces8–10 and have developed techniques to transfer graphene from metals to insulating surfaces where electronic measurements can be performed (see section on “Synthesis of Graphene”). The explosive growth of graphene research has been fueled, in part, by its extremely promising properties as an electronic material. Graphene has been shown to be an extraordinary conductor of electricity, with an intrinsic charge carrier mobility at room temperature of 200,000 cm2/Vs, higher than any other known material.11,12 A carrier mobility of up to 120,000 cm2/Vs has been achieved in suspended graphene samples at 240 K.13 The thermal conductivity of graphene is higher than that of diamond at room temperature,14 and graphene can sustain current densities of 5 × 108 A/cm2, or about 1 μA per atomic row of carbon.15,16 Although graphene does not have an intrinsic bandgap, a number of gap creation strategies have been proposed and are being explored. This material of superlatives is now a promising candidate for new electronic technologies, both within and beyond complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS).