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Ask HN: Can CPUs etc. be made from just graphene and/or other carbon forms?
2 points by westurner 5 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 7 comments



For transfering data it would be in theory possible. I haven't heard anything about semiconducting properties in graphene or other forms of carbon.


Minimally, a graphene based classical (or quantum) computer would require transistors and traces on a carbon wafer, from which NAND gates and better could be constructed.

FWIU there is certainly semiconductivity in graphene and there is also superconductivity in graphene at room temperature.

And traces can be lased into clothing, fruit peels, and probably carboniferous wafers.

Which electronic components cannot be made from graphene or other forms of carbon?


> semiconductivity in graphene

"Ultrahigh-mobility semiconducting epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide" (2024-01) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06811-0 https://research.gatech.edu/feature/researchers-create-first...

> superconductivity in graphene at room temperature

From "Why There's a Copper Shortage" [...] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40542826 re: the IEF report "Copper Mining and Vehicle Electrification" (2024) https://www.ief.org/focus/ief-reports/copper-mining-and-vehi... :

>> Graphene is an alternative to copper

>> In graphene, there is electronic topology: current, semiconductivity, room temperature superconductivity

>> - "Global Room-Temperature Superconductivity in Graphite" (2023) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qute.202300230

>> - "Observation of current whirlpools in graphene at room temperature" (2024) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj2167 .. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40360691


- [Superconducting nanowire] "Photon Detectors Rewrite the Rules of Quantum Computing" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39537329 ; functionalized carbon nanotubes work as single photon sources

- From "High-sensitivity terahertz detection by 2D plasmons in transistors" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38800406 .. "Electrons turn piece of wire into laser-like light source" (2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33490730 :

> "Coherent Surface Plasmon Polariton Amplification via Free Electron Pumping" (2023) https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1572967/v1 ; Surface plasmons and photolithography and imaging electrons within dielectrics, emitter but probably not yet with graphene or other carbon?


I think its not the problem of if, but of how. graphene is delicate and can easily break. The manufacturing process is so hard that its still cheaper to use silicon to make chips


Nanoassembled multilayer graphene plus structure is probably already doable?

- "Towards Polymer-Free, Femto-Second Laser-Welded Glass/Glass Solar Modules" (2024) https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10443029 .. "Femtosecond Lasers Solve Solar Panels' Recycling Issue" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40325433

- "A self-healing multispectral transparent adhesive peptide glass" (2024) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07408-x .. "Self-healing glass from a simple peptide – just add water" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40677095

- "High-strength, lightweight nano-architected silica" (2023) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266638642... .. "A New Wonder Material Is 5x Lighter—and 4x Stronger—Than Steel" https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a44725449/new-mater... ..

From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38253573 :

> maybe glass on quantum dots in synthetic DNA, and then still wave function storage and transmission; scale the quantum interconnect

From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38608859 re: 2DPA-1 polyamide :

>> However, in the new study, Strano and his colleagues came up with a new polymerization process that allows them to generate a two-dimensional sheet called a polyaramide. For the monomer building blocks, they use a compound called melamine, which contains a ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms. Under the right conditions, these monomers can grow in two dimensions, forming disks. These disks stack on top of each other, held together by hydrogen bonds between the layers, which make the structure very stable and strong.

If not glass or polyamide 2DPA-1,

Maybe aerogels? Can high-carbon aerogels be lased into multilayer graphene circuits?


In addition to nanolithography and nanoassembly, there is 3d printing with graphene.

From https://all3dp.com/2/graphene-3d-printing-can-it-be-done/ :

> However, because the atomic bonds are only in the lateral direction, it can only exist in 2D. Once multiple layers of graphene are stacked one onto each other, you get graphite, which has relatively poor properties. This means 3D printing pure graphene is impossible. A 3D structure is only possible when graphene is mixed with a binder.

There are so many non-graphene forms of carbon.

Is peptide glass a suitable binder for multilayered graphene for semiconductor and superconductor computing?

Do or can aerogels already contain binder?




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