Siberian scientists have learned to make 30-nanometer-thick diamond films, which are much thinner than the ones produced in Europe and the US, RusNanoNet reports citing Vladimir Popov, the head of the lab of the Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science (ISP SB RAS).

The scientist explained that the thinner a microscheme material is, the lower parasite effects and noise are. This lowers the costs, too. That is why a nano-size-thin film is a perfect basis for microchips. For example, up-to-one-nanometer-thick silicon films, developed by the ISP SB RAS, are used by organizations of the federal nuclear power agency Rosatom and the federal space agency Roskosmos in creating radiation-resistant electronic devices, as well as institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in nanoelectronic and biosensor devices.

Vladimir Popov specifies that nowadays up-to-300-nanometers-thick diamond films are obtained in several labs around the world, but all of their indisputable advantages are undermined by the so-called residual damage that is formed when the film is separated from the crystal.

“We have found the way to avoid formation of damage at all process stages and keep the original structure of the synthetic crystal, grown by our colleagues from the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the SB RAS,” Mr. Popov said.

Using quantum optical effects in diamond microchips will significantly increase the amount of computer calculations. Besides, diamond microchips can work at temperatures up to plus 800 Celsius degrees, that could enable production of direct control devices for jets and other types of engines.

When scientists come up with the technology of making microchips from diamonds, this hardest mineral on Earth will render silicon microelectronics outdated, Mr. Popov added. But for that we need to grow crystals with set features, learn how to separate the thinnest films from them, and incorporate other chemical elements into its crystal structure in order to increase its low electric conductivity.