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Graphene transistors

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 487–496 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Graphene has changed from being the exclusive domain of condensed-matter physicists to being explored by those in the electron-device community. In particular, graphene-based transistors have developed rapidly and are now considered an option for post-silicon electronics. However, many details about the potential performance of graphene transistors in real applications remain unclear. Here I review the properties of graphene that are relevant to electron devices, discuss the trade-offs among these properties and examine their effects on the performance of graphene transistors in both logic and radiofrequency applications. I conclude that the excellent mobility of graphene may not, as is often assumed, be its most compelling feature from a device perspective. Rather, it may be the possibility of making devices with channels that are extremely thin that will allow graphene field-effect transistors to be scaled to shorter channel lengths and higher speeds without encountering the adverse short-channel effects that restrict the performance of existing devices. Outstanding challenges for graphene transistors include opening a sizeable and well-defined bandgap in graphene, making large-area graphene transistors that operate in the current-saturation regime and fabricating graphene nanoribbons with well-defined widths and clean edges.

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Figure 1: Trends in digital electronics.
Figure 2: Conventional FETs.
Figure 3: FET d.c. and small-signal operation.
Figure 4: Properties of graphene and graphene nanoribbons.
Figure 5: Carrier transport in graphene.
Figure 6: Structure and evolution of graphene MOSFETs.
Figure 7: Direct-current behaviour of graphene MOSFETs with a large-area-graphene channel.
Figure 8: Comparing cut-off frequencies for different FETs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the 2008–2009 Excellence Research Grant of Technische Universität Ilmenau. The author thanks A. Castro Neto, K. Novoselov and Th. Seyller for discussions. He also thanks St. Thiele for his comments and for graphene MOSFET simulations, and M. Schlechtweg for providing GaAs metamorphic-HEMT data before publication.

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    Frank Schwierz

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Schwierz, F. Graphene transistors. Nature Nanotech 5, 487–496 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.89

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