Synthetic diamonds could lead to 80GHz computer processors.
While synthetic diamond has been available for around 60 years, recent developments in the manufacturing process mean that the market is becoming flooded with the product - which is chemically indistinguishable from real diamond. In effect, the amount of diamond in the world is now only limited by how much factories can produce.
This has lead De Beers (the world’s oldest diamond company) to invest tens of millions dollars in new technology to explore the use of diamonds beyond traditional jewellery.
After having success creating sensors for the Large Hadron Collider, they are now looking into using diamond to build diamond microchips for computers. Diamond is the best known thermal conductor on the planet, which could mean diamond microchips could run ultra-hot without needing a cooling system. (Just don’t touch it while it’s running!)
It’s estimated that such a chip could run 10 to 20 times faster than current chips. With the latest Intel chips running at close to 4GHz, that would mean a processor of around 40 - 80GHz.
(Source: technologyreview.com, via 8bitfuture)
