Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Interconnect Technologies
Summary
As transistor scaling approaches physical and economic limits, interconnect performance has become a dominant factor in overall integrated circuit speed, power consumption and reliability. Conventional copper metallisation suffers from increased resistivity, electromigration and heat dissipation issues at sub-10 nm nodes. Nanocarbon materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons offer a compelling alternative due to their inherently high carrier mobility, current-carrying capacity and thermal conductivity. Single-walled carbon nanotubes can sustain current densities several orders of magnitude higher than copper, while multilayer graphene and graphene nanoribbons provide tunable band structures and planar compatibility with existing lithographic processes. Hybrid strategies, combining copper with carbon nanotube bundles or encapsulating copper–carbon composites in graphene barrier layers, leverage the advantages of both materials to improve signal integrity and mitigate diffusion. Key performance indicators for these technologies include reduced propagation delay, enhanced bandwidth density and a favourable energy-delay product, often outperforming traditional interconnects by factors of two or more. Progress in controlled synthesis, alignment, contact resistance reduction and integration with low-κ dielectrics is bringing these technologies closer to commercial relevance, with potential impact in high-performance computing, mobile electronics, three-dimensional heterogeneous integration and flexible electronics.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Interconnect Technologies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in carbon nanotube and graphene interconnect technologies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Carbon nanotube (CNT): Cylindrical carbon structure formed by rolling single layers of graphene, valued for high current density and carrier mobility.
Graphene nanoribbon (GNR): Narrow strip of graphene offering tunable electronic properties and planar integration for interconnects.
On-chip interconnect: Conductive wiring within an integrated circuit that links transistors and other components.
Through-silicon via (TSV): Vertical electrical connection passing through a silicon wafer to enable three-dimensional stacking of integrated circuits.
Crosstalk: Unwanted coupling between adjacent interconnect lines leading to signal distortion and noise.
Energy-delay product: Composite metric quantifying the trade-off between energy consumption and signal propagation delay in interconnect systems.
References
- Recent Progress and Challenges Regarding Carbon Nanotube On-Chip Interconnects. Micromachines (2022).
- Transient Analysis of Hybrid Cu-CNT On-Chip Interconnects Using MRA Technique. IEEE Open Journal of Nanotechnology (2021).
- Mini-Review: Modeling and Performance Analysis of Nanocarbon Interconnects. Applied Sciences (2019).
- Design, Modeling and Analysis of Cu-Carbon Hybrid Interconnects. IEEE Access (2021).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.