Nanotechnology in Electronics

You may have heard of nanotechnology ( Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale-- typically smaller than 1 micrometer) finding it way in personal care products and some health products but soon it may be replacing the Silicon the element that heralded the electronic revolution.
The two contenders to dethrone Silicon may be Graphene and carbon Nanotubes.

Graphene is a flat single layer of carbon atoms bonded together in a hexagonal pattern of graphite.Graphene has some extraordinary electronic properties like a zero effective mass and like elementary particle obeys Einstein's relativity instead of Newtonian mechanics. Graphene is much easier to work with and scientists has been able to use standard electronic techniques to make Graphene transistors.

Carbon Nanotubes are extremely thin , hollow cylinders made of carbon atoms and have similar properties as Graphene but are much harder to build into complex devices.Recent research in Nanotube technology has demonstrated that its novel Y shape allows for elimination of metal electrode that control current flow and thus shrinking its size even further.

Be it flat carbon like in Graphene or rolled up like in Nanotubes, carbon is a serious challenger to Silicon.