Atomically thin amorphous carbon with an ultralow dielectric constant

Two-dimensional (2D) materials could replace conventional electronic components. Key advances have already been made in applying 2D materials to integrated circuits, but a robust, atomically thin ultralow-k dielectric remains crucial for further circuit scaling. Minimizing parasitic capacitances, in particular, will be needed as conductor spacing shrinks below 10 nm. However, conventional amorphous or porous low-k dielectrics become unstable at nanometre thicknesses. Here we show that atomically thin amorphous carbon films can function as mechanically robust ultralow-k dielectrics with a dielectric constant of 1.35 and a dielectric strength of 28–31 MV cm−1. The films are also an effective barrier to metal-ion diffusion, with a time to failure of 1010 s at 0.8-nm thickness. Our approach relies on a low-temperature, direct and conformal growth process, which makes it promising for practical implementation in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. An amorphous carbon film with a dielectric constant of 1.35 can act as a robust ion-diffusion barrier, even at a thickness of 0.8 nm.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Electronics
Published
2026-08-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-026-01685-2
Primary Topic
Graphene research and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Atomically thin amorphous carbon with an ultralow dielectric constant

Chuan Chu Tee, Anna A. Makarova, Michel Bosman, Ugur Karadeniz et al.
Nature Electronics
Graphene research and applications
article

Atomically thin amorphous carbon with an ultralow dielectric constant

Chuan Chu Tee, Anna A. Makarova, Michel Bosman, Ugur Karadeniz, Chee‐Tat Toh, D. V. Vyalikh, Аlena A. Alekseeva, Lucas M. Sassi, Kazu Suenaga, Naoto Kamiuchi, Yuta Sato, Artem K. Grebenko, 石路, Usha Bhat, Barbaros Oezyilmaz, Konstantin Iakoubovskii, Alexander Fedorov, Y He, Hongji Zhang, Iurii Rogov, Daria Noskova
article en

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials could replace conventional electronic components. Key advances have already been made in applying 2D materials to integrated circuits, but a robust, atomically thin ultralow-k dielectric remains crucial for further circuit scaling. Minimizing parasitic capacitances, in particular, will be needed as conductor spacing shrinks below 10 nm. However, conventional amorphous or porous low-k dielectrics become unstable at nanometre thicknesses. Here we show that atomically thin amorphous carbon films can function as mechanically robust ultralow-k dielectrics with a dielectric constant of 1.35 and a dielectric strength of 28–31 MV cm−1. The films are also an effective barrier to metal-ion diffusion, with a time to failure of 1010 s at 0.8-nm thickness. Our approach relies on a low-temperature, direct and conformal growth process, which makes it promising for practical implementation in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. An amorphous carbon film with a dielectric constant of 1.35 can act as a robust ion-diffusion barrier, even at a thickness of 0.8 nm.

Nature Electronics
Ikerbasque (ES), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG), National University of Singapore (SG), Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (DE), Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (DE), Sanken Electric (Japan) (JP), Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (SG), Quantum Design (Germany) (DE), Donostia International Physics Center (ES), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (JP), Freie Universität Berlin (DE), The University of Osaka (JP)
Openalex Percentile: Top 44%
Graphene research and applications
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