New Material Promises Faster Electronics

[ Florian Aigner - The novel material graphene makes faster electronics possible. Scientists at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) developed light-detectors made of graphene and analyzed their astonishing properties. High hopes are pinned on this new material: Graphene, a honeycomb-like carbon structure, made of only one layer of atoms, exhibits remarkable properties. In 2010, the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of graphene and its behavior. At the Photonics Institute at the TU Vienna, the electronic and optical properties of graphene are the focus of interest. Viennese scientists could now demonstrate how remarkably fast graphene converts light pulses into electrical signals. This could considerably improve date exchange between computers.