The Impact of Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene on Electronics Industry

Since their discovery in 1991, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), by Sumio Iijima, and graphene, by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004, have been extensively studied around the world. Both materials have electronic, thermal, magnetic, optical, chemical, and mechanical extraordinary properties. International technology roadmap for semiconductors (ITRS) has predicted that these nanomaterials are potential replacements of the conventional materials used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Two of the technological aspects that both materials share and have reduced their extensive use are processing and dispersion required to homogenize the electrical properties of the materials based on them. Fortunately, these problems are being solved thanks to the ongoing investigation, and in a short time the materials used in today's electronics industry will be replaced by devices based on these novel materials. The impact of the applications of both materials in the electronics industry as well as future trends in the following decades are discussed in this chapter.