Why synthetic diamond could be your new best friend

BY BRUCE BOLLIGER,
Element Six Technologies
www.e6.com

Consumer, industrial and military demands are constantly pushing for electronic devices that are smaller, more powerful and increasingly reliable. However, as a device shrinks, there is less area for heat to dissipate. The result is a major thermal management nightmare. Enter: synthetic diamond, with the world’s highest room-temperature thermal conductivity. But thermal conductivity is just one of synthetic diamond’s several remarkable physical properties that make it capable of delivering extreme performance across a variety of applications. Its enticing properties, including a very wide transmission range of wavelengths and extreme hardness, enable synthetic diamond to be used for the high-power laser windows, water purification and electrochemical sensing, for example.

Crystal synthetic diamond provides unmatched purity for ATR prisms in IR spectroscopy.

The below list explores five reasons why we should all consider embracing synthetic diamond.   
1.    Highest thermal conductivity for optimal heat management: With the highest known thermal conductivity (four times higher than copper), synthetic diamond is the ideal material for thermal management applications. Considering 50 percent of electronic failures occur as a result of heat, the supermaterial is valuable in all types of electronic and electrical applications, including telecommunications and microelectronic devices, where the build-up of heat can destroy delicate circuitry or severely impair performance.

2.    Super strength drives down operating costs & carbon footprint: Synthetic diamond’s molecular structure makes it the world’s most versatile supermaterial. With greater hardness than all other materials, its strength is ideal for cutters used in oil and gas drilling, where it enables longer tool lifetime by minimizing wear, reduces downtime and drives down operating costs and carbon footprints.

3.    Extreme sensitivity for use in biomedical sciences: In electroanalytical applications, including biomedical sensors, synthetic diamond sensing material provides stable electrochemical properties that enable the highest levels of sensitivity, selectivity and responsiveness. Synthetic diamond holds the potential to transform electroanalysis for industries such as pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, mining, agriculture, and biomedical sciences.

4.    World’s widest spectral band for R&D, defense and laser applications: Synthetic diamond has the widest spectral band of any known material—extending from ultraviolet to far infrared and the millimeter-wave microwave band. Coupled with its mechanical and thermal properties, this makes it the ideal ‘window’ material for many industrial, R&D, defense and laser applications, particularly in the production of laser optics. For instance, high-power resistant synthetic diamond optical windows are a key enabler of Laser Produced Plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems.

5.    Superior survival skills and water purification: Synthetic diamond is chemically and biologically inert and can survive in severe physical, chemical and radioactive environments that would destroy lesser materials. Its unique electrochemical properties enable the efficient oxidation of organic and inorganic compounds. Element Six’s electrochemical oxidation process using Boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes cost-effectively transforms the toxic pollutants in wastewater into biocompatible organics, so that clean water can be safely discharged into the environment. A small electrical current passing through synthetic diamond creates Ozone, which is a powerful disinfectant and environmentally friendly alternative to bleach.

As can be seen, synthetic diamond has a number of extreme properties that make it either the ideal or the only solution for a number of very challenging applications. As the need for more power in smaller form factors, the need for cleaner water and more sensitive analytical tools, and the need to dig deeper for energy sources at reasonable cost, synthetic diamond may just be the best friend you’ve been looking for.