Using thin layers of graphite known as graphene, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, have produced proof-of-principle transistors, loop devices and circuitry. The researchers hope to use graphene layers less than 10 atoms thick as the basis for electronic systems that would manipulate electrons as waves rather than particles, much like photonic systems control light waves.

"We expect to make devices of a kind that don't really have an analogue in silicon-based electronics, so this is an entirely different way of looking at electronics," said Walt de Heer, a professor at Georgia Tech's school of physics. "Our ultimate goal is integrated electronic structures that work on diffraction of electrons rather than diffusion of electrons. This will allow the production of very small devices with very high efficiencies and low power consumption."

Because carbon nanotubes conduct electricity with virtually no resistance, they have attracted strong interest for use in transistors and other devices. However, serious obstacles must be overcome before nanotube-based devices can be scaled up into high-volume industrial products.

De Heer has helped discover many properties of carbon nanotubes over the past decade and believes their primary value has been in calling attention to the useful properties of graphene. Continuous graphene circuitry can be produced using standard microelectronic processing techniques, potentially allowing the creation of a road map for high-volume graphene electronics manufacturing, he said.

"We are doing lithography, which is completely familiar to those who work in microelectronics," said de Heer.