Wedoany.com Report on Feb 25th, Researchers at Rice University in the United States have developed an innovative "bottom-up" method capable of growing patterned diamond surfaces and integrating them directly into electronic devices for efficient cooling. This technology is expected to reduce the operating temperature of devices by 23 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), thereby improving performance and extending service life.
"In electronics, heat is the enemy," said Xiang Zhang, an assistant research professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. "A 23-degree Celsius reduction is significant—it can extend device lifespan and allow devices to run faster without overheating." Currently, high-power technologies such as AI processors and 5G hardware face severe thermal management challenges. Diamond, with its excellent thermal conductivity, offers a new approach to solving this problem.
Although diamond has exceptional thermal conductivity, it is difficult to process. Traditional "top-down" methods require growing a diamond plate first and then etching it, a process that is slow and costly. Therefore, the research team turned to a "bottom-up" process, using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition technology combined with lithography methods to create templates on chip surfaces and sprinkle them with nanodiamond "seeds." In a high-energy reactor, carbon atoms deposit on these seeds and grow into a robust, thermally conductive layer.
Zhang explained, "This requires a reactor that uses microwave energy—like the microwave oven in your kitchen, but much more powerful—to turn gas into plasma. This plasma breaks down a mixture of carbon-rich gas and hydrogen, and the carbon atoms rain down and deposit onto your substrate." Nucleation is a crucial step for growing diamond, providing a foothold for carbon atoms to assemble into a crystalline layer.
By using lithography and laser-cut films, the research team successfully scaled the process to 2-inch wafers, demonstrating the method's scalability and potential for industrial application. This diamond cooling layer technology is compatible with various substrates such as silicon and gallium nitride, providing a foundation for integrating high-performance thermal management across semiconductor technologies.
Professor Pulickel Ajayan, who led the research, noted, "The main takeaway is that we've found a scalable, effective way to integrate diamond cooling into electronic devices. This is important because heat limits the battery life of phones and the speed of computers. By cooling these devices more efficiently with diamond, we can pave the way for faster, more reliable, and longer-lasting technologies." The next goal is to perfect the bonding of diamond to the underlying electronic devices to build more powerful next-generation transistors.
The research has been published in Applied Physics Letters, providing a practical path for the development of future energy-efficient, high-performance electronics. This breakthrough in diamond cooling layer technology is expected to drive improvements in energy efficiency in fields such as 5G, radar, and AI data centers.
