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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Using carbon atoms deposited on graphene with a focused electron beam process, Fedorov and collaborators have demonstrated a technique for creating dynamic patterns on graphene surfaces [phys.org]. The patterns could be used to make reconfigurable electronic circuits, which evolve over a period of hours before ultimately disappearing into a new electronic state of the graphene. Graphene is also made up of carbon atoms, but in a highly-ordered form.

Reported in the journal Nanoscale, the research was primarily supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and involved collaboration with researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Beyond allowing fabrication of disappearing circuits, the technology could be used as a form of timed release in which the dissipation of the carbon patterns could control other processes, such as the release of biomolecules.

"We will now be able to draw electronic circuits that evolve over time," said Andrei Fedorov, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. "You could design a circuit that operates one way now, but after waiting a day for the carbon to diffuse over the graphene surface, you would no longer have an electronic device. Today the device would do one thing; tomorrow it would do something entirely different."

Lost Psychlo technology [wikipedia.org].

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