Wireless communications took a small leap forward today with the announcement that researchers have created a functional integrated circuit smaller than a grain of salt.
The circuit is a broadband frequency mixer, which is "one of the most fundamental and important circuits in essentially all wireless communication devices and equipment," Yu-Ming Lin, an IBM researcher who led the effort, told me today.
Mixers, for example, convert low-frequency audio signals into high-frequency signals that can be transmitted wirelessly. The new circuit is made of graphene, the Nobel Prize worthy crystalline material made with a single layer of carbon atoms.
The research community has been abuzz over graphene for the past few years because it is the strongest crystalline material yet known, can be stretched like rubber and is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity.
It is being eyed for a range of technologies such as lighter and cheaper body armor, touchscreen displays and chemical sensors.
Last month, we reported on the use of the material in an optical modulator, which switches light on and off and thus has the potential to serve as a blazingly fast broadband data pipe. Today, Lin and colleagues report in Science the integration of a graphene transistor onto a silicon carbide wafer.
"This is a circuit component that has a real function, a practical use in a real application, for example the cellphone," Lin said. "The significance is, because of the integration, the entire circuit can be very small; in this case less than 1 millimeter squared."
Compared to silicon, the graphene transistor could be less expensive, use less energy and free up room inside portable electronics such as smart phones, where space is tight, the researchers note.
Cosmic Log - Tiny circuit big boost for electronics
The circuit is a broadband frequency mixer, which is "one of the most fundamental and important circuits in essentially all wireless communication devices and equipment," Yu-Ming Lin, an IBM researcher who led the effort, told me today.
Mixers, for example, convert low-frequency audio signals into high-frequency signals that can be transmitted wirelessly. The new circuit is made of graphene, the Nobel Prize worthy crystalline material made with a single layer of carbon atoms.
The research community has been abuzz over graphene for the past few years because it is the strongest crystalline material yet known, can be stretched like rubber and is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity.
It is being eyed for a range of technologies such as lighter and cheaper body armor, touchscreen displays and chemical sensors.
Last month, we reported on the use of the material in an optical modulator, which switches light on and off and thus has the potential to serve as a blazingly fast broadband data pipe. Today, Lin and colleagues report in Science the integration of a graphene transistor onto a silicon carbide wafer.
"This is a circuit component that has a real function, a practical use in a real application, for example the cellphone," Lin said. "The significance is, because of the integration, the entire circuit can be very small; in this case less than 1 millimeter squared."
Compared to silicon, the graphene transistor could be less expensive, use less energy and free up room inside portable electronics such as smart phones, where space is tight, the researchers note.
Cosmic Log - Tiny circuit big boost for electronics
