Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz have discovered that electrical conduction in graphene is governed by the same basic laws that describe the thermal properties of gases. The team says this much simpler thermodynamic approach to the electrical conduction will allow scientists to better understand how graphene based devices work, but also to improve their performance. In particular, the work is said show the way for graphene transistors to run at terahertz frequencies.
The researchers found that the energy of ultrafast electrical currents passing through graphene is very efficiently converted into electron heat, making graphene electrons behave just like a hot gas. "The heat is distributed evenly over all electrons. And the rise in electronic temperature, caused by the passing currents, in turn has a strong effect on the electrical conduction of graphene," said Professor Mischa Bonn, MPI-P's director.
"The results of this study will help improve the performance of graphene based nanoelectronic devices, such as ultra high speed transistors and photodetectors," said Professor Dmitry Turchinovich, who led the research.
