| Nov 26, 2010 |
Diamond-based electronics
|
|
(Nanowerk News) Diamond has long been a fascinating material from jewels to artificially made thin films. It has long been considered as an ideal candidate for electronic device applications due to its highest thermal conductivity and robustness to use in diverse conditions.
|
|
To revolutionize diamond-based electronics, the usually insulating diamond should be fabricated or doped as n-type conducting nature. A few years ago, nitrogen doping at high temperature of about 800°C has been suggested to create n-type conducting nature in the ultrannaocrystalline diamond (UNCD), which own similar properties as diamond.
|
|
Recently, researchers from Taiwan (Department of Physics, Tamkang University and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University) have demonstrated ("Monolithic n-type conductivity on low temperature grown freestanding ultrananocrystalline diamond films") the possibilities of fabricating n-type conducting UNCD films by Li-doping at very low temperature of about 570°C by simply using a Li-based substrate material – no need to use any heater that usually used for diamond growth processes.
|
|
Further, they showed the fabrication of freestanding UNCD films, which could be easily bonded to substrates for diverse applications. They foresee a great potential for these findings and the bonded freestanding films on to flexible substrates to be used in flexible diamond based electronic devices.
|
