A high-performance transistor based on graphene that represents a step towards the realisation of wafer-scale graphene electronics is reported this week in Nature Communications. The easy-to-make device may open new avenues for the use of graphene in high-frequency and high-power electronics.

Researchers strive to make use of the remarkable electronic properties of graphene, but attempts to use it as a semiconductor, the foundation of modern electronics, have proved difficult. Heiko Weber and colleagues go against mainstream ideas, and develop a transistor where graphene is used as a metal contact instead of a semiconductor. They demonstrate a simple fabrication process for an integrated transistor consisting of graphene and a layer of silicon carbide (SiC), which has good semiconducting properties. The transistor relies on clever engineering of the graphene/SiC interfaces and has high performance up to the megahertz range.