  This review on graphene, a one atom thick, two-dimensional sheet of carbon
atoms, starts with a general description of the graphene electronic structure
as well as a basic experimental toolkit for identifying and handling this
material. Owing to the versatility of graphene properties and projected
applications, several production techniques are summarized, ranging from the
mechanical exfoliation of high quality graphene to the direct growth on
carbides or metal substrates and from the chemical routes using graphene oxide
to the newly developed approach at the molecular level. The most promising and
appealing properties of graphene are summarized from an exponentially growing
literature, with a particular attention to matching production methods to
characteristics and to applications. In particular, we report on the high
carrier mobility value in suspended and annealed samples for electronic
devices, on the thickness-dependent optical transparency and, in the mechanical
section, on the high robustness and full integration of graphene in sensing
device applications. Finally, we emphasize on the high potential of graphene
not only as a post-silicon materials for CMOS device application but more
ambitiously as a platform for post-CMOS molecular architecture in electronic
information processing.
