Graphene, a form of carbon made up of a single layer of carbon atoms in a tight hexagonal arrangement, is sometimes called "atomic-scale chicken wire." Since it was first isolated in the lab in 2004, the material has demonstrated remarkable electronic properties, including theoretical speeds 100 times greater than silicon. But putting graphene into a microchip that could outperform current silicon technology has proven difficult. The answer may lie in new nanoscale systems called two-dimensional layered materials.