Now no one wants the former while the latter has its own issues. Still the best choice is to find ways to make everything smaller. One of the issues with that is again, the material. We have told you that Intel is looking into both Carbon Nanotube and Graphene. These are both excellent options, but there are a few issues with using them. Cabon Nanotubes are difficult to work with and do not always bond to other materials well (at least right now) while graphene has no native way to stop current. What this means for graphene is that it is like having a light switch that is always in the on position. There have been many solutions proposed for this, but most have ended up removing the benefits that graphene brings in the first place.

Well it seems like Samsung may have found a way around that. According to a press release they have developed a method for turning off the electron flow by simply changing the height of the Schottky barrier inside the transistors. This barrier is often used in metal-semiconductors and as graphene is semi-metallic it is an excellent option for creating these. The new graphene Schottky device has been named a Barristor (since it controls the barrier).

Samsung also fabricated a few basic transistors to show that the technology works; they made and successfully demonstrated a basic logic gate and basic logic circuits. From there they were able to perform basic logic operations. This is some pretty great news as it means that you can now create transistors using graphene and keep its native current flow (which is roughly 200 times that of traditional silicon). One hurdle down and… well really not that many to go.

The second part in the “move to new materials” puzzle is another press release of sorts. It seems that Intel is planning to ditch a few of their current materials that are used in building their processors. The materials in question are Gold, Tin, Tungsten and Tantalum. Someone has labeled these as “conflict materials” because one of the cheapest places to get them also happens to be a place to get diamonds. This is the central Africa region (the Congo in particular). Intel has committed to producing one processor that is completely conflict free by the end of 2013.

Now if you read between the lines here you can probably see that it looks like Intel really is working on a processor with new materials (and not just the four listed). Items like Tungsten, Gold, Tin and Tantalum would not be needed in a graphene based product. The pads on the bottom of the CPU package could be replaced with other conductive materials (including graphene sheets), while the tantalum resistors and capacitors on the packaging can also be replaced by other more malleable materials (that resist heat better). Tin and Tungsten also have their replacements (some of which are less expensive).

So It looks like Intel (and others) might truly be on track for making a materials shift sometime between 2013 and 2015. This could push computing into a whole new level of performance considering the electron flow potential in graphene and its very low leakage potential. It will be an interesting next couple of years to be sure and since Intel does not hold all the cards on these materials or discoveries it means that we should see the benefits in more than just the computer market.

Samsung Press Release
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