Graphene Won't Replace Silicon in Future CPUs, Say IBM and Intel

Boasted as one of the greatest innovations in processors manufacturing, graphene isn't yet ready to take the place of silicon in the CPU fabrication process, an IBM researcher revealing that such a transistor can't actually be completely switched off, raising energy efficiency and gate signalling problems.

When it was first introduced, graphene looked like the miracle material that would enable computer chips to become ever more powerful, some even saying that speeds like 1THz (1,000GHz) could be achieved.

To support these allegations, IBM actually demonstrated a graphene transistor running at 100GHz, claiming that the technology could be used for future computer chips, UCLU researchers also developing a graphene transistor with a cut-off frequency of 300GHz.

However, it seems like the material isn't that well suited for building CPUs as a IBM researcher pointed out in an interview for a forthcoming Custom PC feature, cited by the Bit-Tech website.

“Graphene as it is will not replace the role of silicon in the digital computing regime,” said Yu-Ming Linrom from IBM Research - Nanometer Scale Science and Technology

“There is an important distinction between the graphene transistors that we demonstrated, and the transistors used in a CPU.

“Unlike silicon, graphene does not have an energy gap, and therefore, graphene cannot be “switched off," resulting in a small on/off ratio.”

Graphene is two-dimensional allotrope of carbon made from a hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms and their bonds.

As a result, the material is just one-atom thick, paving the way for the fabrication of the smallest transistors possible.

However, as Mike Mayberry, Intel's director of components research, said “silicon’s properties make it a nearly ideal material.

“The industry has so much experience with it that there are no plans to move away from silicon as the substrate for chips.”

Although it still has some obstacles to surpass, graphene could as well make its way into the next generation of computer chips, that could use a hybrid graphene and silicon design.