World's Smallest FM Radio Transmitter Created With Graphene 60
minty3 writes "The team used graphene's mechanical 'stretchability' in order to create a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) – an electronic component that can generate an FM signal. The VCO was used to send and receive audio signals of 100 megahertz. The team used pure tones and more complex music signals to tune the VCO's output and found that both kinds of signals could be 'faithfully reproduced' by an ordinary radio receiver."
Significant new type of oscillator (Score:5, Informative)
What they have demonstrate is how a graphene structure can be made into a tunable oscillator by constructing a rather crude but working FM 'radio-transmitter' using one.
Its significant because older mechanical oscillators were based on crystals or MEMS stuctures that are rather more 'large' than "a one atom-thick graphene sheet" and in practical applications often require considerable space and volume on a circuit board or inside a die package.
If this structure could be incorporated into the microlithography process that is used in making 'electrics chips' then a large external component could be omitted from designs. You could also include multiple independent oscillators on the same die that requires them allowing for more precise control of frequencies needed.
AC cause I can't be bothered to login - more Karma for dev/null ^^