Scientists have inched closer to integrating diamonds into silicon-based computer chips, after lowering the temperatures needed to grow them in the lab and melding the process with quantum mechanics.
Diamonds are highly desirable for use in electronics. That's because their specific crystal lattice structure lets them withstand high electrical voltages, while they can also dissipate heat incredibly well because they are not electrically conductive. But to be made in the lab, diamonds also require extremely high temperatures — well beyond the heat computer chips can withstand as they are being manufactured — so they cannot easily be integrated into chipmaking processes. Reducing heat, meanwhile, sacrifices the diamond quality.
