Silicon semiconductor technology has done marvels for the advancement of our society, which has benefited tremendously from its versatile use and amazing capabilities. The development of electronics, automation, computers, digital cameras and recent smartphones based on this material and its underpinning technology has skyrocketed, downscaling the physical size of devices and wires to the nanometre regime.

Although this technology has been developing since the late 1960s, the miniaturization of circuits seems to have reached a possible end point, since transistors can only be shrunk down to a certain size and no further. Thus, there is a pressing need to complement Si CMOS technology with new materials, and to fulfill the future computing requirements as well as the needs for diversification of applications.

Now, graphene and related two-dimensional (2-D) materials offer prospects for unprecedented advances in device performance at the atomic limit. Their amazing potential has proven to be a possible solution to overcome the limitations of silicon technology, where the combination of 2-D materials with silicon chips promises to surpass current technological limitations.

In a new review article in Nature, a team of international researchers including ICFO researchers Dr. Stijn Goossens and ICREA Prof at ICFO Frank Koppens, and industrial leaders from IMEC and TSMC have come together to provide an in-depth and thorough review on the opportunities, progress and challenges of integrating atomically thin materials with Si-based technology. They provide insights on how and why 2-D materials (2DMs) may overcome current challenges posed by the existing technology and how they can enhance both device component function and performance, to boost the features of future technologies, in the areas of computational and non-computational applications.

For non-computational applications, they review the possible integration of these materials for future cameras, low power optical data communications and gas and bio-sensors. In particular, image sensors and photodetectors, are areas where graphene and 2DMs could enable a new vision in the infrared and terahertz range in addition to the visible range of the spectrum. These can serve, for example, in autonomous vehicles, security at airports and augmented reality.