Emerging Nanoelectronic Devices

15Graphene Electronics

Frank Schwierz

Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany

15.1 Introduction

Over decades, semiconductor electronics, in particular IC (integrated circuit) technology, has evolved at an enormous pace and its annual growth has significantly exceeded that of other industries. Two major domains in current IC technology are More Moore and More Than Moore. Important trends in these domains are shown in Figure 15.1.

Figure 15.1 Major trends in the More Moore and More Than Moore domains of IC technology. On the left, the increase of the transistor count of processor chips and the scaling of MOSFET gate length are shown. The enhancing frequency performance of RF transistors is indicated on the right. The symbols a, b, c, and star represent the fastest FETs at certain times and the lines are a guide for the eye: a – GaAs metal–semiconductor FET, b – GaAs pHEMT (pseudomorphic HEMT), c – GaAs mHEMT, star – InP HEMT

More Moore relates to digital logic that enjoyed an exponential growth of the number of transistors per chip, a continuous reduction of transistor size, and a steady increase of transistor switching speed coupled with a decrease in switching energy. The Si MOSFET (metal oxide–semiconductor field effect transistor) is the backbone of the dominating CMOS (complementary MOS) logic. In 2013, processors containing five billion MOSFETs with a gate length around ...