Graphene Nanoelectronics

Semiconductor technology has taken us a long way by making devices of ever smaller size. But eventually, as the transistors approach the size of molecules, quantum effects become important. What will then be the form of future nanoelectronic devices? Can quantum mechanics be used to control device operation? And can they operate at reasonable temperatures? Nanoscale transistors made from graphene may provide ways to address these questions. On page 356 of this issue, Ponomarenko et al. (1) describe graphene single-electron transistors etched to sizes as small as ∼30 nm, which have quantum-confined energy states, and control the motion of single electrons (see the figure). This complements investigations of single-electron transistors from graphene flakes (2), quantum interference devices (3), and ∼200-nm etched graphene dots (4).