Large and conducting diamond wafers for industrial applications in power electronics – DIAMWAFEL

The DIAMWAFEL project aims to develop a heteroepitaxial “electronic-grade” diamond wafer starting from a unique multilayer stack of Ir/SrTiO3/Si (001). Conductive diamond layers with a controlled doping (both p- and n-type) will be grown on heteroepitaxial templates using respectively boron and phosphorous as dopant. This project will provide all the building blocks that are needed to develop all-diamond basic electronic devices such as vertical and planar Schottky diodes. The electronic performances of Schottky diodes will be evaluated. Heteroepitaxial diamond wafers will be scaled up to one inch during the project.
In the international context, France possesses very competitive assets to build an industrial sector to produce heteroepitaxial diamond wafers. Indeed, the consortium of DIAMWAFEL combines all required expertise: from the control of scalable SrTiO3 /Si (001) substrates (INL), the heteroepitaxial diamond (CEA LIST), the growth of boron (NEEL, LSPM) and phosphorous doped (GEMaC) layers to device technology and electrical characterization (NEEL). Industrial exploitation is the targeted outcome of the DIAMWAFEL project and some French companies are already willing to venture into this new field.