Graphene has been considered by many as a revolutionary material with electronic and structural properties that surpass conventional semiconductors and metals. Due to its superlative qualities, graphene is being considered as the reference material for a post-CMOS technology. Furthermore, graphene is also quite unusual electronically since its electric carriers behave as if they were massless and relativistic, the so-called Dirac particles. Because of its exotic electronic properties, theorists are being forced to revisit the conceptual basis for the theory of metals. Hence, graphene seems to be unveiling a new era in science and technology with still unseen consequences.

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DOI: 10.1016/S1369-7021(10)70029-8