IBM Research has unveiled and demonstrated a carbon-based transistor that could render silicon-based CMOS chips obsolete over the next 10 years, according to Smarter Technology.

Carbon nanotubes, nanowires, and quantum dots are already in the works. But “pure crystalline sheets of carbon” called graphene are the closest substitute yet for silicon sheets, the report said. Why bother? Because silicon chips generate more and more heat as manufacturers shrink the chips and speed them up.

Carbon, at least in labs, seems to reverse the effect using quantum effects, and actually consume less power as researchers shrink the chips. In addition, graphene sheets can carry electrons faster with the same voltage, the report said. The trick has been improving the “on-to-off current ratios,” which IBM has done via a “bi-layer construction method for graphene transistors.”

Sounds complex—but as Moore’s Law threatens to run out of steam, this could be our next best bet.

IBM Demonstrates Carbon-Based Transistors

A version of this article originally appeared on Gearlog.