Researchers from IBM will present early results of a project that focuses on the manufacture of an RF circuit in graphene, namely a 2GHz frequency doublers, using a CMOS-compatible production process. The presentation will be held at the International Electron Device Meeting to be held in Washington DC next 5 to 7 December.
Graphene, a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, is characterized by many properties that make it a suitable candidate to research in the world of electronics and semiconductors, for example with respect to silicon, the main element used today to the production of processors, graphene has a 40 times higher electron mobility.
The interesting physical properties of graphene, however, clash with a number of problems when carbon is introduced in a traditional factory production of "wafers" for the semiconductor industry. IBM has been conducting a project to arrive, ultimately, to a CMOS-compatible manufacturing technology of wafers to 200mm in diameter, that will pave the way for the development of graphene-based integrated circuitry.
The main obstacle in the production of wafers with graphene is the difficulty to place a layer of dielectric on the surface of graphene, in order to isolate the gate: IBM has developed a process in which the structures are first defined on silicon gate and then transfer the graphene layers using chemical vapor deposition on silicon. After defining the areas in graphene, IBM has been able to connect the well and contacts the source to complete the FET structure.
According to information released by the organizers of the IDEM, this processor IBM has released a frequency doublers which integrates RF FET and passive components, with a conversion gain of-25dB and a frequency of 2GHz output.
Posted by: Wasim Javed
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