A major advance in microelectronics

Graphene, a two-dimensional crystal composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, has very promising properties for electronics. However, before these potential applications could be realized, it was necessary to obtain a semiconducting form of the material. Eight years after its discovery, this has finally been achieved through the work of a Franco-American team led by the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), and including scientists from the CNRS, the SOLEIL synchrotron, Institut Jean Lamour in Nancy and Institut Néel in Grenoble.