Diamonds could replace silicon, SiC, and GaN for semiconductor devices

The market is finally heating up for the speed and efficiency of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) when another contender has made itself known in the form of diamonds. These diamond materials have been in development for more than 50 years. Besides the traditional tooling applications (drilling, cutting), the interest in diamond continues to grow for optical and thermal applications, and for new applications in semiconductor devices such as high-power devices and high-frequency devices able to work at elevated temperatures.

In fact, diamond’s unique physical and electrical properties, which include the highest known thermal conductivity, a wide band gap, excellent electrical insulator properties, very high breakdown voltage and very high carrier mobility – make diamonds an excellent candidate for electronic devices with ultimate performance. However, the costs of diamond, as well as the remaining technology barriers limit the diamond material market to only a few applications and some high-end devices.

The diamond applications in electronic devices, such as high-voltage power electronics, high frequency high-power devices, and high-power optoelectronic devices (laser diodes, LEDs), are the scope of Yole Developpement report “Diamond Materials for Semiconductor Applications”. Both passive (heat spreaders) and active (diodes, transistors) diamond solutions are considered in the market quantification. Despite the high costs of high-quality materials, a large number of players are involved in the 2013 diamond materials market and its largest segment – R&D activities. Two scenarios from 2013 to 2020 diamond material market growth are presented in the report. According to the base scenario, the diamond materials market for semiconductor devices will surpass $43M and will be represented mainly by heat spreaders used in high-power device thermal management. Electronic applications, such as Schottky diodes, transistors, etc., require high-quality single-crystalline CVD diamond, which has superior characteristics such as high carrier mobility, long carrier lifetimes, high breakdown fields and high thermal conductivity.

We focus on the research and production of diamond, provide diamond heat sinks and other products, welcome to negotiate.