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Diamond Wafers for Electronics: A Thin and Adhesive Solution

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Ultra-flexible thin diamond wafer

This thin diamond wafer is also very flexible

Nature, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08218-x

A new method of using adhesive tape to create ultrathin diamond wafers could aid in the production of diamond-based electronics, which may one day provide a useful alternative to silicon-based designs.

Diamond is an excellent insulator, and at the same time has unusual electronic properties that allow electrons with a certain energy to move with little resistance. This means it can handle high energy with higher efficiency than traditional silicon chip designs.

However, manufacturing practical diamond chips requires large, very thin wafers, similar to the thin silicon wafers used to make modern computer chips, which have proven difficult to create.

now, Chu Zhiqing and colleagues at the University of Hong Kong have discovered a way to use adhesive tape to fabricate extremely thin and flexible diamond wafers.

Chu and his colleagues first embedded nano-sized diamonds in a small silicon wafer and then sprayed methane gas at high temperatures onto them to form a continuous, thin sheet of diamond. Next, we made a small crack on one side of the pasted diamond sheet, and then used regular adhesive tape to peel off the diamond layer.

They say that this exfoliated diamond sheet is extremely thin, less than a micrometer, much thinner than a human hair, and smooth enough to use the kind of etching techniques used to make silicon chips. I discovered.

“This is very reminiscent of the early days of graphene, when cellophane tape was used to produce the first monolayers of graphene from graphite. I never imagined this concept would be applied to diamond. “I did,” he says. julie macpherson At the University of Warwick, UK.

“This new edge-exposed delamination method will enable numerous device designs and experimental approaches,” he says. Mete Atature at Cambridge University. One area that could be particularly useful is increasing control over quantum devices that use diamonds as sensors, he says.

Chu and his colleagues say the diamond films they can produce are about 5 centimeters in diameter, showing that the method works as a proof of principle. andrea ferrari But that’s smaller than the 20 to 30 centimeters that are standard in many wafer processes, and it’s not clear whether the new method can be scaled up, he says.

The manufactured wafers also appear to be polycrystalline, but they are not as smooth and regular as single-crystal diamond, which may limit their use in some applications, McPherson said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Diamond storage breaks records by holding data for millions of years

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Diamond can store data stably for a long time

University of Science and Technology of China

The famous marketing slogan that diamonds are forever may be just a slight exaggeration for diamond-based systems that can store information for millions of years. Now, researchers have developed a system with a record-breaking storage density of 1.85 terabytes per cubic centimeter.

Previous technology used laser pulses to encode data onto diamond, but due to its higher storage density, a diamond optical disc with the same capacity as a standard Blu-ray could hold approximately 100 terabytes of data (Blu-ray). (equivalent to approximately 2,000 rays). It lasts much longer than the typical Blu-ray lifespan of just a few decades.

“Once the internal data storage structure is stabilized using our technology, diamond can achieve an extraordinary lifetime of millions of years of data retention at room temperature without requiring maintenance,” he says. Wang Ya at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.

Wang and his colleagues conducted their research using tiny pieces of diamond, just a few millimeters long, but say future versions of the system could use rapidly spinning diamond discs. Their method used ultrafast laser pulses to knock some of diamond’s carbon atoms out of place, leaving single-atom-sized empty spaces, each exhibiting a stable brightness level.

By controlling the laser’s energy, the researchers were able to create multiple empty spaces at specific locations within the diamond, and the density of those spaces influenced the overall brightness of each site. . “The number of free spaces can be determined by looking at the brightness, so the stored information can be read,” Wang says.

The team then saved the images, including a colorful painting by artist Henri Matisse. cat with red fish And a series of photographs taken by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878, showing a rider on a galloping horse, maps the brightness of each pixel to the brightness level of a specific region within a diamond. The system stored this data with over 99% accuracy and completeness.

This preservation method is not yet commercially viable because it requires expensive lasers, high-speed fluorescence imaging cameras, and other devices, Wang said. But he and his colleagues hope that the diamond-based system can eventually be miniaturized to fit in a space the size of a microwave oven.

“In the short term, government agencies, research institutes, and libraries with a focus on archives and data preservation may be eager to adopt this technology,” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Over 1,900 exoplanets in our galaxy may experience diamond rain

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Diamond rain could fall on many exoplanets

shutter stock

The sky of an icy planet in space may be full of diamonds. Compacted carbon compounds may turn into diamonds at less extreme temperatures than researchers thought would be necessary, which could make diamond rain a common phenomenon inside giant ice cubes. there is.

In the past, laboratory experiments have confused the conditions under which diamonds form inside ice giants like Uranus and Neptune. There are two types of experiments to investigate this: dynamic compression experiments, in which a carbon compound is subjected to a sudden impact, and static compression experiments, in which it is placed in a chamber and gradually compressed. Previous dynamic compression experiments required much higher temperatures and pressures to form diamonds.

mango frost Using static compression and dynamic heating, researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California sandwiched polystyrene (the same polymer used to make Styrofoam) between two diamonds and applied an X-pulse. We conducted a new series of experiments to compress Ray of light. They observed diamonds begin to form from polystyrene at temperatures of about 2,200 degrees Celsius and pressures of about 19 gigapascals, conditions similar to the shallow interiors of Uranus and Neptune.

These pressures are much lower than those found necessary for diamond formation in previous experiments using dynamic compression. This reaction took longer than the typically performed dynamic compaction experiments. This may explain why no low-pressure diamond formation was detected in such experiments. “It didn't match the established results and wasn't what we expected, but it was a good fit and brought everything together,” Frost says. “It turns out it's all due to different timescales.”

This could mean that diamonds could rain on smaller planets than previously thought. The researchers calculated that of the approximately 5,600 exoplanets identified, more than 1,900 could rain diamonds.

This also means that diamonds may form at shallower depths within our solar system than we think, which could change our understanding of the internal dynamics of giant planets. There is a possibility that it will change. This shallow geological formation could allow diamond rain to pass through layers of ice as it sinks toward the centers of these planets. This, in turn, will affect the icy world's magnetic fields, which are complex and poorly understood.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Possible Widespread Presence of Diamond Rain in the Universe

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Diamond rain could fall on many exoplanets

shutter stock

The sky of an icy planet in space may be full of diamonds. Compacted carbon compounds may turn into diamonds at less extreme temperatures than researchers thought would be necessary, which could make diamond rain a common phenomenon inside giant ice cubes. there is.

In the past, laboratory experiments have confused the conditions under which diamonds form inside ice giants like Uranus and Neptune. There are two types of experiments to investigate this: dynamic compression experiments, in which a carbon compound is subjected to a sudden impact, and static compression experiments, in which it is placed in a chamber and gradually compressed. Previous dynamic compression experiments required much higher temperatures and pressures to form diamonds.

mango frost Using static compression and dynamic heating, researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California sandwiched polystyrene (the same polymer used to make Styrofoam) between two diamonds and applied an X-pulse. We conducted a new series of experiments to compress Ray of light. They observed diamonds begin to form from polystyrene at temperatures of about 2,200 degrees Celsius and pressures of about 19 gigapascals, conditions similar to the shallow interiors of Uranus and Neptune.

These pressures are much lower than those found necessary for diamond formation in previous experiments using dynamic compression. This reaction took longer than the typically performed dynamic compaction experiments. This may explain why no low-pressure diamond formation was detected in such experiments. “It didn't match the established results and wasn't what we expected, but it was a good fit and brought everything together,” Frost says. “It turns out it's all due to different timescales.”

This could mean that diamonds could rain on smaller planets than previously thought. The researchers calculated that of the approximately 5,600 exoplanets identified, more than 1,900 could rain diamonds.

This also means that diamonds may form at shallower depths within our solar system than we think, which could change our understanding of the internal dynamics of giant planets. There is a possibility that it will change. This shallow geological formation could allow diamond rain to pass through layers of ice as it sinks toward the centers of these planets. This, in turn, will affect the icy world's magnetic fields, which are complex and poorly understood.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New Material with Ultra-High Hardness Competing with Diamond

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Scientists have discovered a new type of material, carbon nitride, that may rival diamond in hardness. The discovery is the result of international collaboration and decades of research, and its durability, properties such as photoluminescence and high energy density open up a wide range of industrial applications. This breakthrough, funded by an international grant and published in Advanced Materials, represents a significant advance in materials science.

Scientists have solved a decades-old mystery and uncovered a nearly indestructible material that could rival the hardest material on Earth, diamond, a study has announced.

Researchers have shown that when carbon and nitrogen precursors are exposed to extreme heat and pressure, the material known as carbon nitride becomes harder than cubic boron nitride, the second hardest material after diamond. discovered.

Unlocking the potential of carbon nitride

This breakthrough opens the door to multifunctional materials used for industrial purposes such as protective coatings for cars and spacecraft, heavy-duty cutting tools, solar panels, and photodetectors, experts say. states.

Materials researchers have been trying to unlock the potential of carbon nitride since the 1980s, when scientists first noticed its impressive properties, including high heat resistance.

However, despite more than 30 years of research and multiple synthetic attempts, no reliable results were reported.

International cooperation leads to success

Now, an international team of scientists led by researchers from the Center for Extreme State Science at the University of Edinburgh and experts from Germany’s Bayreuth University and Sweden’s Linköping University has finally achieved a breakthrough.

The researchers heated various forms of carbon-nitrogen precursors to temperatures of more than 1,500 degrees Celsius while exposing them to pressures ranging from 70 to 135 gigapascals (about 1 million times atmospheric pressure). Celsius.

To determine the atomic configuration of compounds under these conditions, intense X-ray beams were applied to the samples at three particle accelerators: the European Synchrotron Research Facility in France, the Deutsche Electronen Synchrotron in Germany, and the Advanced Photon Source. It was irradiated. In the US.

What new discoveries mean

Researchers have discovered that three carbon nitride compounds have the necessary building blocks for superhardness.

Remarkably, all three compounds retained their diamond-like quality upon return to ambient pressure and temperature conditions.

Further calculations and experiments suggest that this new material contains additional properties such as photoluminescence and a high energy density that allows it to store large amounts of energy in a small amount of mass.

The potential applications for these ultra-incompressible carbon nitrides are vast, researchers say, and could position them as the ultimate engineering material, rivaling diamond.

The research, published in Advanced Materials, was funded by the UKRI FLF scheme and a European research grant.

Dr Dominic Lanier, Future Leaders Fellow at the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, said: Materials researchers have been dreaming for the past 30 years. These materials provide a strong motivation to bridge the gap between high-pressure material synthesis and industrial applications. ”

Dr Florian Tribel, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University, said: “These materials are not only outstanding in their multifunctionality, but also in technically suitable phases, a situation that has been observed thousands of kilometers deep within the Earth’s interior. This collaboration opens new possibilities for this field. I strongly believe that it will open up new possibilities.”

Reference: “Synthesis of ultraincompressible and recoverable carbon nitride featuring CN4 tetrahedra”, Dominique Laniel, Florian Trybel, Andrey Aslandukov, Saiana Khandarkhaeva, Timofey Fedotenko, Yuqing ying, Nobuyoshi Miyajima, Ferenc Tasnádi, Alena By V. Ponomareva, Nityasagar Jena, Fariia Iasmin Akbar, Bjorn Winkler, Adrian Neri, Stella Chariton, Vitali Plakapenka, Victor Millman, Wolfgang Schnigg, Alexander N. Rudenko, Mikhail I. Katsnelson , Igor A. Abrikosov, Leonid Dubrobinsky, Natalia Dubrobinskaya, October 11, 2023, advanced materials.
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202308030

Source: scitechdaily.com

Carbon and nitrogen-based substance nearly as hard as diamond.

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This carbon nitride is almost as hard as diamond.

Dominic Ranier and others

An elusive material that scientists have wanted to create for decades has finally been synthesized under tremendous heat and pressure. Its hardness is almost the same as diamond. It can be used as cutting tools, sensors, and even explosives.

In 1989, researchers theorized that materials made from carbon and nitrogen would be less compressible and more resistant to shear than the hardest known material, diamond. However, efforts to achieve this have failed.

now, dominique raniel He and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh in the UK created a small sample of the material, a type of carbon nitride. They achieved this by compressing carbon and nitrogen between the points of the diamond at a pressure 700,000 times that of atmospheric pressure and heating it to 3000°C with a laser.

Diamond has a hardness of approximately 90 gigapascals, and the second hardest material known to date, cubic boron nitride, has a hardness of 50 to 55 GPa. Ranier said the new material scores between 78 and 86 GPa, depending on which of the three crystal structures it forms.

Quote from Works from 1989 The idea that the hardness of this substance exceeds that of diamond has now been overturned, and it is now believed that no substance exceeds it.

“There is a huge gap between diamonds and diamonds.” [previous] Second best. So we’re starting to bridge that gap and close it,” Lanier says. He said the new material is called carbon nitride, even though there are existing materials made from these two very different elements, adding that the more chemically accurate name is “a bit of an overstatement.” The researchers said they welcome proposals.

The samples are only 5 micrometers wide and 3 micrometers deep, which could make large-scale production difficult. Compressing the sample using larger diamonds could theoretically create larger pieces of material, but more intense compression would be required to form them.

This would make carbon nitride much more expensive to purchase than diamond. But Lanier said the material has advantages over diamond, such as generating electrical signals under pressure, which could be useful in sensors. Its high energy density also has the potential to make it a powerful explosive that is less toxic to the environment than current alternatives, Lanier said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com