The team at the University of Sussex has been researching how to make microchips smaller PHYSICISTS claim to have made the smallest microchips ever which could help computers and smartphones run thousands of times faster. Researchers from the University of Sussex crinkled a strip of graphene and used other 2D-materials, in a process similar to nano-origami. They made the nanomaterial act like a transistor, essential for managing electrical power in devices, while the graphene behaved like a microchip. It is about 100 times smaller than usual microchips, which could make them ideal for smaller gadgets, particularly smartphones. “We’re mechanically creating kinks in a layer of graphene,” explained Professor Alan Dalton, from the University of Sussex.