An international team composed of experts from Tianjin University and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States has successfully produced the world's first graphene semiconductor, which is more than 10 times faster than silicon at room temperature, which is of great significance for the creation of faster and smaller electronic devices. Relevant papers have been published in the journal Nature.
According to reports, the co-first authors of the paper "Ultra-high mobility semiconductor epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide" that has been published on the "Nature" website are Zhao Jian, Ji Peixuan, Li Yaqi, and Li Rui, and many others. The signed authors are mainly from the research team of Tianjin University and researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States.
Ma Lei, the team's instructor and chair professor at Tianjin University and executive director of the Tianjin International Research Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems, told China Business News that this graphene semiconductor research is led by the Tianjin University team, while the online communication is led by the United States. It's just a misinformation.
Marley said that the research results were discovered in the second half of 2021, and the above-mentioned paper was written in 2022. The research direction was proposed by Walt A. de Heer, one of the signed authors of the article, and the Chinese research team led by Marley was responsible for the main research and research work. “This is clearly written in the ‘Contribution’ section of the paper,” he said.
Marley also pointed out that this should be the world's first functional semiconductor made of graphene.
Marley's research team used a special furnace to produce large areas of single-crystal graphene-like material when growing graphene on silicon carbide wafers covered with organic films, according to the paper's abstract. Because it is a substance grown on the crystal surface of silicon carbide, the structure of epitaxial graphene is almost the same but does not have better electrical conductivity.
According to measurement data, this semiconductor graphene has a mobility more than 10 times that of silicon at room temperature.
Marley's research team stated that this research is of great significance to the practical application of graphene electronics. However, it is estimated that it will take 10 to 15 years before graphene semiconductors are fully implemented.
