Through a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are partnering with San Francisco Bay Area startup Diamond Quanta to advance semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.
The partnership, facilitated by the Laboratory's Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO), will explore how laser pulses can be used to engineer and remove defects in diamond, a material that is a leading candidate for next-generation semiconductors.
"Developing these materials could be revolutionary for high-power electronics, which are critical to the national security infrastructure," said LLNL scientist Ted Laurence. "We also want the U.S. to be at the forefront of the development of new semiconductor options, with U.S.-centric manufacturing and a secure supply chain."
Diamond Quanta will provide the engineered diamond materials and set the requirements for the materials after laser processing. The company's larger goal is to make diamond a practical option for mainstream chip manufacturing.
"We are trying to make diamond as accessible as silicon. That's our mission," said Michael Pierantozzi, Diamond Quanta co-founder and chief operating officer. "But in doing so, we are breaking a barrier in manufacturability with this pulsed laser annealing technique and CRADA."
That barrier stems from defects in diamond materials. These atomic-scale irregularities in crystal structure can impede the flow of electrons and have so far limited device performance, reliability and commercial adoption.
At LLNL, researchers are engineering out defects with pulsed laser annealing, which uses nanosecond bursts of high-energy laser light to heat, melt and recrystallize materials. In a recent publication, LLNL and Diamond Quanta scientists proved that the laser technique can effectively modify the structure of diamond, making it denser and less stressed while preserving the diamond phase. Now, the team will work to optimize the method.
"Pulsed laser annealing provides a very straightforward, relatively easy way to improve the properties of diamond and make sure that it can meet the necessary specifications," said Laurence. "This CRADA allows our team at LLNL to finish developing the method for Diamond Quanta's application. We want to improve its manufacturability, repeatability and scalability, and then help them transfer it into a real product."
The CRADA project will examine how changes in laser wavelength, pulse width and energy impact the diamond materials. After determining these processing conditions, Diamond Quanta aims to create an integrated pilot manufacturing platform - named Diamond Forge 1 - at its operations and process development center in Petaluma, California.
"Diamond has exceptional material properties, but commercial adoption depends on our ability to manufacture and integrate it consistently," said Adam Khan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Diamond Quanta. "Our earlier work with LLNL established an important scientific foundation. This CRADA is the next step toward developing repeatable laser-processing methods that can be incorporated into our manufacturing platform."
Collaborations such as this are enabled by IPO, LLNL's focal point for industry engagement. IPO facilitates partnerships to deliver mission-driven solutions that support national security and grow the U.S. economy. Through IPO's technology transfer, LLNL provides access to cutting-edge research, advanced technologies and world-class expertise to help validate early-stage ideas, scale mature systems or create new inventions.
"This collaboration exemplifies how technologies and subject matter expertise in laser materials processing and materials science developed for LLNL's mission can be leveraged to strengthen U.S. industry while addressing emerging national security needs," said Ibo Matthews, materials science division leader in the Laboratory's Physical & Life Sciences directorate.
