Scientists Seek to Forge Diamond Computer Chip

[Khephra]

LIVERMORE, Calif. (Reuters) - Only a few are singing about them yet, but it could turn out that diamonds are a computer's best friend.

Damon Jackson is one researcher who sees the sparkling gems as a way to overcome the limitations of the silicon chips that serve as the brains of computers and the machines they run.

"It's not a pie-in-the-sky idea," said Jackson, who works in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory east of San Francisco. "I would not be surprised at all, as more people start to look into this, if five or 10 years down the line that diamond would be a common material in a computer."

He showed off a microscope focused on a $1,500 natural diamond topped with a spiral of electronic circuits. On a second diamond, eight circuits pointed upward to the summit.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=7130654

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. oh great

now microsoft is gonna be the ones cutting kids arms off in africa to keep the slaves working

[ChicagoBlue]

2. Whoa, whoa -- not that bad

Synthetic diamonds will be the way to go here, no natural ones. First, you can grow them into a wafer more suitable for chip production. Second, the quality of the material is a LOT better and more consistent. "Blood diamonds" won't be a significant part of this!

It DOES make a great chip, though!

[7th_Sephiroth]

3. we will see

there may be an aspect to synthetic diamonds that make them worthless for computer componenets, and it will drive the cost of computers up INSANELY, remember, gold is the best material to use for house wirewing, but that diddent bring down the jacked up cost of gold

[Silverhair]

4. NO. Synthetic diamonds will be better.

I think you are hoping they won't be. However, a diamond is simply carbon atoms in a matrix. Synthetic diamonds can be controlled in the way they grow, so that they are just right for the use intended.

Here is more information:

http://dendritics.com/scales/synthetic-diamonds-final-report.asp#Thermal%20and%20Electrical%20properties

"There are no clear differences in thermal or electrical conductivity between natural and synthetic diamonds at room temperature. It seems possible that synthetic diamonds can be produced with thermal and electrical properties tailored to some extent by ion implantation."

[Salviati]

5. In fact....

with some of the new synthetic diamond fabrication techniques, one of the few ways that they can be distinguished from natural diamonds is that they are too perfect, there are just no flaws in them at all...

"gold is the best material to use for house wirewing, but that diddent bring down the jacked up cost of gold"

That's because transmutation of the elements is too darn expensive, but the cost to create diamonds out of carbon is in a completely different league. There's only so much gold out there, but there is tons of carbon.