Low Pressure Synthesis of Diamond by Chemical Vapour Deposition and Its Technological Applications

Abstract

Technological applications of synthetic diamond films have evolved greatly over the past 30 years, spurred by advances in the methods of synthesis and also the characterisation of material properties. The research conducted over this period has identified ways to utilise this material not only in passive electronic applications, such as heat spreaders, but in an expansive range of active electronic/optoelectronic devices based solely on diamond, including detectors, voltaics, thermionics and quantum computing. Advances in the control of impurities and defects have allowed the commercial introduction of high-quality single crystal and polycrystalline wafers, and yielded approaches for producing efficient n-type diamond material. This chapter will review and discuss some recent diamond materials research at Bristol and elsewhere that has been oriented towards the development of heat to electric power generation and radio-voltaic batteries.