A one-atom-thick layer of carbon may one day help International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and the U.S. military build more precise radar and computers that operate at near the speed of light.
Physicists Konstantin Novoselov, 36, and Andre Geim, 52, at the University of Manchester in the U.K., have found a way to manipulate how graphene, the thinnest and toughest material ever produced, conducts electricity, a breakthrough that opens the door to its use in digital electronics.
Because graphene conducts electricity 30 times faster than silicon -- approaching the speed of light, according to the researchers -- the finding may be used by companies such as IBM to speed up computers. The material was first isolated by the two Russian-born scientists in 2004, and they were awarded a Nobel Prize last year. The latest research was published last week in the journal Science.
“They’ve observed a phenomenon that was unattainable previously,” said Yu-Ming Lin, an IBM researcher who developed the first integrated circuit from wafer-size graphene in June. The Armonk, New York-based company, which funded the study along with Samsung Electronics Co. and the U.S. Air Force and Navy, will now consider how to use graphene in semiconductors and computers, he said.
Let's face it, Apple rules (for now), but IBM rocks. And when all is said and done, it's really all about patents. To read the rest of the article, click here.