Saturday, April 26, 2014: In what can be termed as ‘grounbreaking’, Samsung has discovered a synthesis method to speed the commercialisation of Graphene, a unique material ideally suited for electronic devices. Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), has joined hands with Sungkyunkwan University, to be the first in the world to develop this new method.
According to a press statement released by the laboratory leaders at SAIT’s Lab, “This is one of the most significant breakthroughs in graphene research in history. We expect this discovery to accelerate the commercialisation of graphene, which could unlock the next era of consumer electronic technology.”
Graphene has one hundred times greater electron mobility than silicon, which is the most widely used material in semiconductors today. It is more durable than steel and has high heat conductibility as well as flexibility, which makes it the perfect material for use in flexible displays, wearables and other next generation electronic devices.
Through its partnership with Sungkyungkwan University’s School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, SAIT revealed a new method of growing large area, single crystal wafer scale Graphene. Engineers around the world have invested heavily in research for the commercialisation of Graphene, but have faced many obstacles due to the challenges associated with it. In the past, researchers have found that multi-crystal synthesis – the process of synthesizing small graphene particles to produce large-area graphene – deteriorated the electric and mechanical properties of the material, limiting its application range and making it difficult to commercialise.
The new method developed by SAIT and Sungkyunkwan University synthesises large-area graphene into a single crystal on a semiconductor, maintaining its electric and mechanical properties. The new method repeatedly synthesises single crystal Graphene on the current semiconductor wafer scale.
Over the past several decades, the growth of the semiconductor industry has been driven by the ability to grow the area of a silicon wafer, while steadily decreasing the process node. In order to commercialise Graphene to displace the industry’s reliance on silicon, it is vital to develop a new method to grow a single crystal Graphene into a large area.
