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NASA Building Massively Heat-Resistant Chips
coondoggie writes "NASA researchers have designed and built a new circuit chip that can take the heat of a blast furnace and keep on performing. Silicon carbide (SiC) chips can operate at 600 degrees Celsius or 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit where conventional silicon-based electronics — limited to about 350 C — would fail. The new silicon carbide differential amplifier integrated circuit chip may provide benefits to anything requiring long-lasting electronic circuits in very hot environments such as jets, spacecraft, and industrial machinery. In particular, NASA said SiC applications will include energy storage, renewable energy, nuclear power, and electrical drives."
They're not the only company doing this. Diamonex http://www.diamonex.com/ a subsidiary of Morgan Advanced Ceramics has been making diamond on silicon for years. I should know as I have a part of a wafer sitting on my desk at home. As for the people worried about heat dissipation, these things move heat amazingly well (better than copper). I've taken the wafer and on edge it will cut through an ice cube like a knife through warm butter. Unfortunately it will turn your fingers numb in about 3 seconds too from the heat transfer.