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Fujitsu Laboratories exhibited a new carbon composite of nanotubes and graphene at the nano tech 2009 show.
Examples of typical nanotechnology materials include two dimensional graphene in which carbon atoms are arranged in a planar state and one-dimensional carbon nanotubes in which graphene is wrapped into a cylindrical wire shape.
Because carbon nanotubes have a one-dimensional structure, they exhibit extremely high conductivity in the vertical direction along the wire.
On the other hand, grapheme that has a two-dimensional structure exhibits high conductivity in the horizontal direction along the layer, so if the two structures are combined, we can expect to get a material that is highly conductive in all directions.
Until now it has been difficult to create this type of structure, but in our research we discovered almost by chance a structure in which carbon nanotubes are connected to graphene.
Applications that are being considered for this new material are applications that can utilize the characteristics of both nanotubes and graphene, particularly the conduction characteristics.
We at Fujitsu and Semiconductor Leading Edge Technologies (Selete) have joined forces in an attempt to use carbon nanotubes in LSI wiring.
In the future, the nanotube section of the structure that is formed when carbon nanotubes and graphene are joined could be used for vertical wiring, while the graphene section could be used in the horizontal wiring.
We are also considering the use of this structure to convey heat on a three-dimensional level.
Another merit of the composite is the flat surface structure. Normally when carbon nanotubes are grown on a substrate, there is notable variation in the lengths of the nanotubes, and this variation makes it very difficult to connect with other materials.
As a result, an additional process is required to cut the nanotubes to equal lengths.
In contrast, this new composite material has an extremely flat surface that makes it very easy to join the composite with other types of materials.
Fujitsu intends to develop synthesis technology tailored to specific applications and also plans to focus on technology that will enable the structure to be freely controlled.