Diamond Foundry presents first 200 mm single-crystal diamond wafer, not yet polished
The wafer is a prototype: it has not been polished yet. Diamond's thermal conductivity is at least five times that of copper, which matters for chip cooling.
Diamond Foundry, a maker of laboratory-grown diamonds, has presented what it calls the world's first 200 mm single-crystal diamond (SCD) wafer, tech.wp.pl reports. tech.wp.pl
tech.wp.pltech.wp.plOpen source ↗ This format matters because diamond in wafer form could become part of solutions that improve cooling of advanced integrated circuits.
Thermal conductivity and single-crystal structure
The advantage of diamond comes mainly from its thermal conductivity. Estimates put it at no less than five times that of copper. At the same time, unlike many materials used in heat removal systems, diamond can remain an electrical insulator, which is essential in electronics.
The company did not use gemstones of the jewellery kind. It chose a high-quality material: a single crystal rather than a polycrystalline variant. The uniform structure of a single crystal is what allows the parameters needed for efficient heat transport.
Modern accelerators consume a lot of energy, and much of it turns into heat. As power density grows, cooling systems come under pressure, especially where local overheating, so-called hot spots, appears. Single-crystal diamond could draw heat more effectively from the most heavily loaded parts of a chip. tech.wp.pl
tech.wp.pltech.wp.plOpen source ↗ In tests of this approach, diamond cooling solutions were reported to lower chip temperature by up to 52 degrees Celsius.
Prototype stage and other diamond cooling work
Practical use is still far off. The wafer shown has not yet been polished, so it must go through further processing stages before industrial applications. Diamond Foundry assumes that before 2030 it will be realistic to prepare 300 mm wafers, the size used in modern semiconductor fabs.
Interest in synthetic diamond is not limited to Diamond Foundry. In 2024 Akash Systems received 18.2 million dollars of support from the US CHIPS Act for technology combining gallium nitride with synthetic diamond. The company states that such a combination can lower chip temperature by up to 20 degrees Celsius.
De Beers Group is developing a copper-diamond composite intended, among other uses, for cooling processors and accelerators. Frore Systems is testing diamond cold plates for liquid cooling systems designed for future NVIDIA accelerators. tech.wp.pl
tech.wp.pltech.wp.plOpen source ↗
