The first of two press conferences today was on graphene—the high-tech name that physicists have given to honeycomb sheets of carbon that can be found in low-tech pencil lead.

If you manage to isolate a one-atom-thick layer of graphene, you can do some pretty neat stuff with it according to Walter De Heer of Georgia Tech University. Thin graphene ribbons behave in ways similar to conventional semiconductors. At the same time, electrons in a graphene ribbon have odd quantum properties that could be used in future components, he says.

Furthermore, graphene structures can be grown on a chip in a way that’s similar to conventional electronics with “no fusing and no musing,” as De Heer puts it.

So why isn’t graphene already on your motherboard? It turns out that it’s hard to connect it to more conventional materials. De Heer is optimistic, however, that the problem can be overcome. Intel seems to buy it; they’re helping to fund his research.

The first of two press conferences today was on graphene—the high-tech name that physicists have given to honeycomb sheets of carbon that can be found in low-tech pencil lead.

If you manage to isolate a one-atom-thick layer of graphene, you can do some pretty neat stuff with it according to Walter De Heer of Georgia Tech University. Thin graphene ribbons behave in ways similar to conventional semiconductors. At the same time, electrons in a graphene ribbon have odd quantum properties that could be used in future components, he says.

Furthermore, graphene structures can be grown on a chip in a way that’s similar to conventional electronics with “no fusing and no musing,” as De Heer puts it.

So why isn’t graphene already on your motherboard? It turns out that it’s hard to connect it to more conventional materials. De Heer is optimistic, however, that the problem can be overcome. Intel seems to buy it; they’re helping to fund his research.