Scientists from Manchester University have found a new way to modify graphene to make it as an insulator. It is claimed that these modified graphene will pave the way to build 'organic' computer chips from carbon rather than silicon.

A team at Manchester University has shown that graphene can be easily modified to act as an insulator by adding hydrogen atoms to its surface. Graphene, carbon arranged in atom-thick sheets, is already known to be an excellent conductor, but electronics requires the ability to insulate too, as well as electrical properties in between those two extremes. In fact, the new material called graphene is made by exposing a graphene sheet to ionised hydrogen gas for some two hours. Scientists said that single material can also simplify construction and allow near-seamless interconnections between conductors and semiconductors, currently as much of a headache for the chip manufacturers as the need to shrink transistors.

Read More...