4.7 Sspd_chapter 2.1.3.nano-technology era.  (Page 12/6)

2.1.3.nano technology era (october 2004 onward)

[A new class of materials Two-dimensional(2D)crystalline materials have recently been identified and analyzed (1). The first material in this new class is graphene, a single atomic layer of carbon. This new materialhas a number of unique properties, which makesit interesting for both fundamental studies and future applications.The electronic properties of this 2D-material leads to, for instance, an unusual quantum Hall effect.(2,3)It is a transparentconductor(4) which is one atom thin. It also gives rise to analogies with particle physics, including an exotic type of tunneling(5,6) which was predicted by the Swedish physicist Oscar Klein.(7).In addition graphene has a number of remarkable mechanical and electrical properties.

It is substantially stronger than steel, and it is very stretchable. The thermal and electrical

conductivity is very high and it can be used as a flexible conductor. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 honours two scientists, who have made the decisive contributions to this development.

They are Andre K. Geim and Konstantin S. Novoselov, both at the University of Manchester, UK. They have succeeded in producing, isolating, identifying and characterizing graphene.(1,8).

Excrpted from: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2010/advanced-physicsprize2010.pdf .

References:1. K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, S. V. Morozov, D. Jiang, Y. Zhang, S. V. Dubonos, I. V. Grigorieva, and A. A. Firsov, Science 306, 666 (2004).

2. K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, S. V. Morozov, D. Jiang, M. I. Katsnelson, I. V. Grigorieva, S. V. Dubonos, and A. A. Firsov, Nature 438, 197 (2005).

3. Y. B. Zhang, Y. W. Tan, H. L. Stormer, and P. Kim, Nature 438, 201 (2005).

4. R. Nair, P. Blake, A. Grigorenko, K. Novoselov, T. Booth, T. Stauber, N. Peres,

and A. Geim, Science 320, 1308 (2008).

5. M. I. Katsnelson, K. S. Novoselov, and A. K. Geim, Nature Physics 2, 620 (2006).

6. A. F. Young and P. Kim, Nature Physics 5, 222 (2009).

7. O. Klein, Z PHYS 53, 157 (1929).

8. K. S. Novoselov, D. Jiang, F. Schedin, T. J. Booth, V. V. Khotkevich, S. V. Morozov,

and A. K. Geim, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 10451 (2005).]

We have come a long way since the first IC chip was invented in 1959 in TI and FairChild simultaneously. The invention of IC Chip has marked the beginning of a new historical era in Man-Kind’s history. This invention has been as crucial as the discovery of fire was or as momentous as the invention of wheel was.

Discovery of Fire brought the proto-human society down from its arboreal abode to its humble cave dwellings. This enabled the development of our society in rapid strides.

On the other hand the invention of wheel led to rapid exchange of ideas and commodities enabling a homogenization across the globe which would have been impossible otherwise.