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Dawn Of The Diamond Age?

Posted by timothy on from the two-months-salary dept.

Wiesel Werkstätte pointed out this article in Nature about recent advances in the use of thin diamond films as semiconductors, a tantalizing possibility which has been thwarted thus far by the overlapping, misaligned structures left by the process of deposting diamond in a film. From the article: "Matthias Schreck and his colleagues from the University of Augsburg have found a way to eliminate the grain boundaries. They have not removed misalignments entirely, but they have restricted them to narrow bands that no longer isolate one crystalline region from its neighbours."

9 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Uses by maraist · · Score: 5

    It doesn't look too incredibly exciting. First of all, the process by which the diamond is made is substantially different and more flawed than silicon wafers (annealing liquid silicon verses condensation of gasious carbon). They say they've merely discovered a method that reduces condensation disturbances to a usable state.. But when we're designing gate-widths that are only a couple dozen atoms wide, these disturbances will probably be monumental.

    The main advantage of these are high temperature (500C instead of 150C with Silicon). One theoretical advantage is running higher voltages at hotter temperatures with less breakdown. So you could over-clock these babby's. :) Another theoretical advantage is the diamond structure should be denser than silicon, which could mean smaller absolute minimum gate lenghts.

    One issue will have to be the metalergic process by which copper attaches to the carbon. It took hundreds of small miracles to find the right intermediate layers to get copper to stick to silicon; will it take just as long for carbon?

    Don't know if better or worse, just know that it'll be different. And from the looks of it, more expensive

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    -Michael
  2. Cu CPU by Kibo · · Score: 3

    Oddly enough the difficulty of using Cu (Copper) on Si (silicon) is somewhat of a special case. Si crystal has the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your point of view) property of being shaped like Cu sized tunnels. This had been known for ages. Back in the old days researchers would put a Si crystal an a big slab of warm Cu to let the Cu migrate into and throughout the Si. The Cu would zoom through the crystal and home in on the defects, this of course made the defects in Si crystals much easier to study. But having this same thing take place when you're trying to lay down a nice pattern on your precisely doped Si is somewhat less that ideal. Now I'm not a wiz a crystalography, but I can't "see" any orientations of diamond that would be like cu sized tunnels.

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    --Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
  3. Instead of a ring for my girlfriend.... by AntiPasto · · Score: 5
    Does this mean I can use my 3 months salary towards a computer? ;)

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  4. How much will they cost? by Decado · · Score: 3

    Processors currently cost a fortune made out of sand. How much will they cost made from diamond? Also will the current duron/celeron chips be made from cubic zirconium the low cost alternative?

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    Slashdot: Proof that a million monkeys at a million typewriters can create a masterpiece

  5. Covering monuments with diamond film... by stroppy · · Score: 5

    In one of Arthur C. Clarkes '2001' series (the end of 2010, I think), the decay of historical monuments has been halted by covering them in a film of diamond atoms.

    This idea has stayed with me for years.

    *Sigh* imagine Paris, in the springtime, the Tower and Arch sparkling like diamond in the morning sun...

  6. Since diamonds are forever.. by ejbst25 · · Score: 4

    Does that mean I could like have an uptime of like 500 years? ;-)

  7. Kiss your cooling fan goodbye! by t0qer · · Score: 4

    'Diamond chips' would be invaluable in electronic devices exposed to high temperatures. Semiconducting diamond works up to temperatures of 500 C -- silicon devices fail at around 150 C. So not only can you toss the cooling fan, you could use it as a mug warmer too! Seriously though, I wonder if an electronic circuit could work at 500 C. Something I remember from science class about resistance and heat rise together. Considering 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling, we're talking about heat on the magnitude of a small blowtorch. I'll be surprised if they can come out with a practical application for this. --toq

  8. They don't know half of it by Deanasc · · Score: 5
    I just did my senior thesis on synthetic diamond. The technology coming down the line is incredible.

    The Russians are doing gem quality diamonds 4 carets every 72 hours. They're also going to do LCD monitors that use almost no power (yet are bright and vivid without backlighting) out of diamond as well.

    Simple doping already gives np switching with rough diamond films such as the one shown in the article.

    So don't bother buying a diamond engagement ring if you're getting married. In a decade they'll be free with a can of motor oil at Wal-mart.

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    I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
  9. Who will be in charge? by programic · · Score: 3

    So will DeBeer's take charge of all the processors? I can only imagine what prices will be like then.

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    -- yawn. --