As computer chips become smaller and more powerful, the tiny wires inside them are creating a growing problem.
Researchers in Singapore have now developed an extremely thin carbon film that could help overcome this obstacle and pave the way for faster, more energy-efficient chips.
The new material, developed by scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS), is just 0.8 nanometers thick.
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, meaning the film is only a few atoms thick. Despite its tiny size, it can perform two important jobs that currently require separate materials inside computer chips.
Modern chips contain billions of transistors connected by microscopic copper wires called interconnects.
These wires carry electrical signals between different parts of the chip, much like nerves carry signals through the human body.
But as chips shrink, these wires must become narrower and move closer together. Narrower copper wires have greater electrical resistance, making it harder and more energy-intensive to move data. At the same time, wires packed closely together can interfere with one another.
This “interconnect bottleneck” is becoming particularly important for artificial intelligence chips, which must move enormous amounts of data quickly.
Chipmakers currently place insulating material between copper wires to reduce interference. An important property of this insulation is its dielectric constant, or k-value. Lower values generally mean less unwanted electrical interaction.
The NUS carbon film achieved a remarkably low k-value of about 1.35, even when its thickness was reduced to only 0.8 nanometers. This is well below the industry target of less than 2 for future advanced chips.
The material also solves another problem. Copper atoms can gradually move out of wires and into surrounding materials, potentially creating unwanted electrical paths and causing chips to fail. Manufacturers therefore use a separate barrier material to contain the copper.
Tests showed that the new carbon film can act as both an electrical insulator and a copper barrier. Combining these two functions into one ultrathin layer could free up valuable space for wider copper wires. Wider wires have lower resistance, potentially allowing chips to transfer data faster while using less energy.
The carbon film also proved surprisingly tough. It survived extremely strong electric fields before losing its insulating ability and had a measured hardness about 10 times greater than silicon dioxide.
Importantly, the researchers produced the film at temperatures below 300 degrees Celsius using a process called chemical vapor deposition. They demonstrated uniform growth across a 4-inch wafer and successfully deposited it on materials already commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing.
The research, published in Nature Electronics on August 18, 2026, is now moving closer to practical chip production. NUS began collaborating with semiconductor giant TSMC in April 2026 to evaluate the material for future chipmaking.
The researchers are now working to determine whether the carbon film can be reliably produced on larger wafers and integrated into existing manufacturing processes.
If successful, an atom-thin layer of carbon could help remove one of the major barriers standing in the way of smaller, faster and more energy-efficient computer chips.
