An international team led by Professor Walter de Heer at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Mai Lei of Tianjin University, has successfully created the world’s first functional graphene semiconductor. This landmark research, detailed in a publication in Nature, represents a significant breakthrough in electronics and materials science​​​​.

Graphene, a material known for its incredible strength and flexibility, has intrigued scientists in the field of electronics for its superior electrical conductivity. However, the lack of a natural band gap in graphene — a key characteristic needed for semiconductors to act as switches in electronics — had limited its practical applications. This obstacle was overcome by the researchers who introduced a band gap to graphene. The process involved growing graphene on silicon carbide substrates to produce epitaxial graphene, which demonstrated semiconductor properties​​​​.

The resulting graphene semiconductor shows an electron mobility rate that is ten times higher than that of silicon, currently the most widely used material in semiconductors. This indicates the potential for devices that are faster and more energy-efficient than current silicon-based electronics​​​​.

This development not only offers an alternative to silicon in semiconductor technology but also opens up new possibilities in various fields such as quantum computing and nanoelectronics. The creation of this graphene semiconductor is a crucial step in the evolution of electronics, potentially leading to smaller, quicker, and more energy-efficient electronic devices in the near future​.