Single crystal wafer is world’s biggest diamond
Diamond Foundry in the US has created the world’s first monocrystalline diamond wafer with a diameter of 100mm.
The 100mm single crystal wafer weights 110 carats and so is technically the world’s largest diamond and can be used to improve the thermal performance of AI compute and wireless communications and for smaller power electronics. It has been used to develop a traction inverter for electric vehicles that is six times smaller than the current versions.
The company uses a process it calls heteroepitaxy to lay down carbon atoms and creates single-crystal diamond on scalable substrates. Diamond wafers have previously been produced but based on compressed diamond powder and lacking the properties of monocrystalline diamond.
The next goal is to reduce the defect density of its diamond wafer to realize a figure of merit that is 17,200x superior to silicon and 60x to silicon carbide from its diamond and wafer production facility in Washington State.
The company was founded in 2012 and operates in the jewelry and luxury goods market as well as in the semiconductor sector.
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Diamfab in Grenoble also synthesizes and dopes diamond epitaxial layers grown on other substrates with a view to making superior power devices in diamond, while Akhan Semiconductor has also developed a diamond substrate for CMOS devices. UK diamond startup Evince collapsed earlier this year after failing to raise additional funding.
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