Could Diamond Chips Supplant Silicon?

Thanks to youm0nt for posting this in BPN

The Japanese government will start a joint research project with industry in fiscal year 2003 to develop diamond-based semiconductors, an advanced chip technology that could one day replace silicon as the base for super fast, high voltage semiconductors, it said on Friday.

Driven by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, part of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the project has a budget of $6 million for the financial year starting in April 2003. The project is expected to last for several years

Diamond chips can work at a temperature of up to 1000 degrees Celsius, while silicon chips stop working above 150 degrees Celsius, according to Hideyo Okushi, principal research scientist at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, which has been researching diamond chips in several projects. This property means that diamond chips can work at a much higher frequency or faster speed and be placed in a high-temperature environment, such as a vehicle's engine.

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