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Originally Posted by talcum
Nope, UNCD B doped diamond is a little better (and N doped is better than B doped), but the conductivity just isn't there with diamond for VLSI. Need to find different, better dopants. Still have issues with gate leakage current leading to high temps. The new tech needed is a better oxide insulating layer.
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High temps are something that makes diamond so desirable. They don't melt until temps of around 2000C are reached. They also conduct heat better than anything else that I know of. I know Type I diamond's TC is around 1500W/Mk. But Type IIa boron diamond's is way higher still, like 2800W/Mk(boron doped semiconductor diamond). Thats 3.8 and 7 times the TC of copper. That is weird about pure diamond though, its such a good thermal conductor, but a electrical insulator at the same time. Usually those properties do not appear together in a single material. I've been reading about quantum lattice vibrations that explain the property, still strange and fascinating though.
Its because of those properties I think diamond will eventually supplant silicon as the semiconductor of choice in electronics. If it can be manufactured cheaply via CVD (whats UNCD?) with an appropriate charge carrier in the crystal (boron, nitrogen, whatever...and don't forget the P-type for it as well!), and manipulated on as fine a scale as silicon, Moore's Law could continue for some time if people are willing to put up with the higher power consumption. Here's a cool link to a company that could very well be the breakthrough outfit for the industry
http://www.apollodiamond.com/ The guy who started this oufit is the guy who made his money through the discovery and patenting of gallium arsenide, which I am sure you know is critical to the modern semiconductor.
Also, how hard is it to manufacture nitrogen doped diamond compared to boron? Nitrogen is what makes natural diamond yellow, and a diamond's "clarity" is pretty much a reference to how nitrogen-free that particular crystal is. You seem to have access to more data than me on the subject, I am curious.