Silicene Discovered: Single-layer Silicon That Could Beat Graphene To Market 67
MrSeb writes "Numerous research groups around the world are reporting that they have created silicene, a one-atom-thick hexagonal mesh of silicon atoms — the silicon equivalent of graphene. You will have heard a lot about graphene, especially with regard to its truly wondrous electrical properties, but it has one rather major problem: It doesn't have a bandgap, which makes it very hard to integrate into existing semiconductor processes. Silicene, on the other hand, is theorized to have excellent electrical properties, while still being compatible with silicon-based electronics (abstract). For now, silicene has only been observed (with a scanning tunneling electron microscope), but the next step is to grow a silicene film on an insulating substrate so that its properties can be properly investigated."
Re:And now? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm still waiting on the atom-thick holographic film, Holocene(tm).
Re:And now? (Score:5, Funny)
And the flexible version.... Pliocene
Re:Beat Graphene to Market? (Score:5, Funny)
Remember, "theorized to have" probably means something more like "we got some motherfuckin' mathematical models which say that this shit got all kindsa properties like".
Re:And now? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm waiting for the censored version of the Oxygen-Boron layer: OBscene.
Re:Physical Limits (Score:5, Funny)
"silicon â" a material which will probably reach its physical limits in the next 5-10 years" Haven't they been saying that since 1980?
Yes -- and therefore silicon has no physical limits and Moore's Law will continue forever.
Re:It makes me wonder. . . (Score:4, Funny)