Diamond Transistor

Diamond Foundry describes its effort, in partnership with Stanford University, to develop all-diamond MOSFET transistors. The page highlights a switching-speed claim of 50 times faster and reports that its devices match state-of-the-art 3-nanometer silicon in subthreshold swing, a measure of how efficiently a transistor switches. It presents diamond as a promising semiconductor for demanding electronics, while also offering diamond substrates to research groups developing their own devices.

The central technique is surface transfer doping, which creates charge carriers without inserting dopant atoms into the diamond crystal. A hydrogen-terminated diamond surface can transfer electrons from the crystal to acceptor species at the surface, leaving a dense, two-dimensional gas of holes near the surface and producing p-type conductivity. Because the method avoids ion implantation and substitutional doping, it can preserve diamond’s intrinsic purity, thermal conductivity, and breakdown strength while reducing defects and carrier scattering. These properties could benefit high-power, high-frequency, and radiation-hardened electronics. The page also points readers to research on the conduction mechanism and related technologies, including diamond wafers and chip cooling and packaging applications.