Graphene may replace copper at nanoscale widths in future

Washington, June 5 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have experimentally demonstrated the advantages that graphene may have over copper for interconnects in future generations of integrated circuits.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, US, report detailed analysis of resistivity in graphene nanoribbon interconnects as narrow as 18 nanometers.

The results suggest that graphene could out-perform copper for use as on-chip interconnects, which are tiny wires that are used to connect transistors and other devices on integrated circuits.

Use of graphene for these interconnects could help extend the long run of performance improvements for silicon-based integrated circuit technology.

"As you make copper interconnects narrower and narrower, the resistivity increases as the true nanoscale properties of the material become apparent," said Raghunath Murali, a research engineer in Georgia Tech's Microelectronics Research Center and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"Our experimental demonstration of graphene nanowire interconnects on the scale of 20 nanometers shows that their performance is comparable to even the most optimistic projections for copper interconnects at that scale. Under real-world conditions, our graphene interconnects probably already out-perform copper at this size scale," he added.

Beyond resistivity improvement, graphene interconnects would offer higher electron mobility, better thermal conductivity, higher mechanical strength and reduced capacitance coupling between adjacent wires.

"Resistivity is normally independent of the dimension-a property inherent to the material. But as you get into the nanometer-scale domain, the grain sizes of the copper become important and conductance is affected by scattering at the grain boundaries and at the side walls," Murali noted. These add up to increased resistivity, which nearly doubles as the interconnect sizes shrink to 30 nanometers," he said.

Murali and collaborators Kevin Brenner, Yinxiao Yang, Thomas Beck and James Meindl studied the electrical properties of graphene layers that had been taken from a block of pure graphite.

They believe the attractive properties will ultimately also be measured in graphene fabricated using other techniques, such as growth on silicon carbide, which now produces graphene of lower quality, but has the potential for achieving higher quality.

Because graphene can be patterned using conventional microelectronics processes, the transition from copper could be made without integrating a new manufacturing technique into circuit fabrication.

"We are optimistic about being able to use graphene in manufactured systems because researchers can already grow layers of it in the lab," said Murali.

"There will be challenges in integrating graphene with silicon, but those will be overcome. Except for using a different material, everything we would need to produce graphene interconnects is already well known and established," he added. (ANI)