MICROCHIPS made of synthesised diamond, instead of silicon, have come a step closer, opening up the possibility of building rugged chips that will work in environments that would fry silicon electronics.
Space scientists have long had their eye on diamond as a replacement for silicon in circuits that have to operate at high temperatures and in high solar radiation environments – such as chips in communications satellites. Synthetic diamond shows promise because its melting point and thermal conductivity allow it to be used in temperatures far higher than silicon – and it has 30 times the resilience to the kind…
