11/01/2010

Keithley Instruments, Inc., a world leader in advanced electrical test instruments and systems, extends its congratulations to Drs. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, scientists at the University of Manchester in England who were recently awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on graphene, a single-atom-thick form of carbon with outstanding physical, electrical, and chemical properties. In their research, Geim and Novoselov employed several Keithley Instruments products, including the Model 2400 SourceMeter® instrument and the Model 2182A Nanovoltmeter.

Mark Hoersten, Keithley's vice president, marketing, noted, "It has given everyone here enormous satisfaction to know that our products have been a part of a ground-breaking research effort like this one. Coincidentally, three Keithley employees were actually in Geim and Novoselov's labs on a routine customer visit when the call came in from the Nobel Prize Committee, informing Geim and Novoselov of their win."

Award-Winning Research

Geim and Novoselov first isolated graphene, a one-atom-thick form of carbon with a hexagonal (six-sided), honeycomb-like structure, in 2004. Potential applications of this material, sometimes described as "the perfect atomic lattice," include the development of new super-strong and lightweight materials for making satellites, aircraft, and automobiles. Electronics applications may include the development of ultra-fast and ultra-high-bandwidth transistors, innovative displays, biodevices, single-molecule gas detectors, and ultracapacitors.

Robert Green, one of the Keithley employees on hand in the winners’ labs when the call came from the Nobel committee, explains, “They’ve been using two of our Model 2400 SourceMeter instruments and one of our Model 2182A Nanovoltmeters to characterize both the resistivity and the very high carrier mobility of the thinnest crystalline material ever isolated. Ultra-sensitive, precision sourcing and measurement equipment such as the Model 2400 SourceMeter instrument, which can output very low levels of current, and the Model 2182A, which can measure the smallest voltages, are essential to making repeatable and reliable measurements.”

To learn more about the test products used by Geim and Novoselov, visit

Model 2400 SourceMeter - www.keithley.com/products/dcac/voltagesource/broadpurpose/?mn=2400
Model 2182A Nanovoltmeter - www.keithley.com/products/dcac/sensitive/lowvoltage/?mn=2182A

Keithley Instruments, Inc., www.keithley.com