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Electrons in carbon country

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 3–5 (2004)Cite this article

For almost all performance measures, there is some carbon-based material that performs better than silicon. Yet it has proved tough to exploit these carbons in electronics, apart from niche applications. Could hybrid carbon-based materials be more successful?

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Figure 1: Nanotube-based logic devices are being made with increasing sophistication; that shown here contains single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) grown between contacts.

Figures courtesy of W. Milne and K. Teo (Cambridge); see http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/cnt/ for further information.

Figure 2: Wide-ranging behaviours of correlated systems as a function of sheet charge density, n2D.

Copyright © 2003 Nature Publishing Group

Figure 3: Examples indicating the range of possible device structures based on small organic molecules5.

Reprinted with permission from ref. 5. Copyright 2003 American Institute of Physics.

References

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Carbon-Based Electronics project from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Marshall Stoneham

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Stoneham, M. Electrons in carbon country. Nature Mater 3, 3–5 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1042

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