Oct 1 2014
Carbon Sciences Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to mass-produce graphene, the new miracle material, commented today on IBM's recent announcement that it is considering replacing silicon with graphene.
IBM has developed a new method to use graphene as a substrate for single-crystalline semiconductor film growth. Graphene will be less expensive than current single-crystalline wafers used in such production methods, as it can be reused indefinitely.
IBM says that growing a 4" GaN film today requires a 4" SiC substrate wafer that is destroyed using the process. The SiC costs about $3,000. Graphene can be used to replace the SiC and will be much cheaper in the long run. Graphene is also useful as it is flexible and can be better adapted for films that need to be transferred to a flexible substrate.
"We are very excited about IBM's sizeable commitment to search for a replacement for silicon and their high level of interest in graphene," said Bill Beifuss, Carbon Sciences' CEO. "Graphene has the potential to become the next-gen chip technology. To unleash its full potential for this application, a more highly controlled and efficient way to produce high quality graphene is needed. Our breakthrough process is intended to transform natural gas into graphene that can be fine-tuned with application-specific electrical and materials properties."
Carbon Sciences recently announced that it entered into an agreement with the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) to fund the further the development of a new graphene process.
UCSB boasts five Nobel Laureates (four in sciences and engineering) and one winner of the prestigious Millennium Technology Prize. The 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked UCSB Engineering/Technology and Computer Science as #7 in the world.
About Carbon Sciences, Inc.
Carbon Sciences is developing a breakthrough technology to mass-produce graphene, the new miracle material. Graphene, a sheet of pure carbon that is only one atom thick, is flexible, transparent, impermeable to moisture, stronger than diamonds and more conductive than gold. Ever since the Nobel Prize was awarded for its discovery, experts believe graphene to be the miracle material that will enable revolutionary applications such as bendable touchscreen displays, rapid charge batteries, super-capacitors, low cost solar cells, extreme high-speed semiconductors, biosensors, as well as water purification. While the raw materials to make graphene are readily available, the lack of an industrial scale manufacturing process has hindered its commercial use. Carbon Sciences is developing a breakthrough process that will transform natural gas into commercial size sheets of graphene that can be fine-tuned with application-specific electrical and materials properties. To learn more about Carbon Sciences, please visit www.CarbonSciences.com