%0 Journal Article
%A Ravi S Prasher
%B Science
%D 2010
%G eng
%I science.sciencemag.org
%P 185–186
%R 10.1126/science.1188998
%T Materials science. Graphene spreads the heat
%V 328
%8 04/2010
%X <p><span>The reliability and speed of electronic and optoelectronic devices strongly depend on temperature (</span><em>1</em><span>,&nbsp;</span><em>2</em><span>). Materials with very high thermal conductivities are required to spread the heat generated locally in such devices (</span><em>2</em><span>). Bulk copper, which is widely used as heat spreader in computers, has a thermal conductivity of ∼400 W m</span><span>−1</span><span>&nbsp;K</span><span>−1</span><span>&nbsp;at room temperature, but copper thin films, used as electrical interconnects, can have lower thermal conductivity (below 250 W m</span><span>−1</span><span>&nbsp;K</span><span>−1</span><span>) (</span><em>3</em><span>). The search is thus on for materials with thermal conductivities higher than that of copper. On page 213 of this issue, Seol&nbsp;</span><em>et al.</em><span>&nbsp;(</span><em>4</em><span>) report that single monolayers of graphite (graphene) in contact with silicon dioxide (SiO</span><span>2</span><span>) has a thermal conductivity of ∼600 W m</span><span>−1</span><span>&nbsp;K</span><span>−1</span><span>.</span></p>