Who: IBM.
What: Growing a single-crystalline gallium nitride [GaN] film on wafer-scale graphene formed on a silicon carbide (SiC) wafer. The researchers have demonstrated the growth of wafer-scale single-crystalline films on graphene and are able to recycle this graphene for multiple growth/transfer of the films. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140911/ncomms5836/full/ncomms5836.html
Where: High-frequency transistors, photodetectors, biosensors, transparent electrodes on touch screens, rollable e-paper, foldable LEDs, logic transistors, thin-film transistors, etc. IBM is planning to investing $3 billion over the next five years on silicon replacement materials.
When: The researchers have demonstrated fully functional blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by growing LED stacks on reused graphene/SiC substrates followed by transfer onto plastic tapes.
By growing graphene on a silicon carbide (SiC) wafer, gallium nitride (GaN) can be overgrown, lifted off and put on a cheaper silicon substrate then overgrown again on the same graphene covered wafer, greatly lowering the costs of GaN LEDs which today throw away the expensive SiC wafer after each time. (IBM)
