Abstract
The increasing power demands of electronic applications, including 5G/6G, have made thermal management crucial. Joule heating in the device channel due to higher power leads to performance degradation and early failure. To address this, enhancing heat transfer using thermally conductive materials like diamond is important. Diamond integration onto the device’s top, near the channel, can be achieved through direct chemical vapor deposition. We chose a device-first approach to overcome fabrication challenges, as post-fabrication diamond growth at normal temperatures (> 650 °C) risks gate dielectric failure and higher leakage current. Instead, we developed a < 400 °C growth technique. The original gas mixture (H2 and CH4) at temperatures < 500 °C resulted in carbon deposits with low sp3 incorporation. We successfully achieved high-quality crystalline diamond growth at 400 °C by introducing oxygen species. Raman measurements of the < 400 °C grown diamond showed a strong sp3 peak with a small FWHM (~ 6 cm−1) and a negligible sp2 peak, similar to > 650 °C growth.
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This work was partially supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) under the JUMP program.
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SC and MM: conceived the topic discussed in this paper; RS, KW and MM: prepared the samples for diamond growth and MM: synthesized diamond; MM: performed the experiments and the microscopic study; KW: studied the samples using Raman spectroscopy; MM and SC: designed the experiments and conceptualized the manuscript; MM: primarily wrote the main manuscript text; SC: modified the manuscript. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.
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Malakoutian, M., Soman, R., Woo, K. et al. Development of 300–400 °C grown diamond for semiconductor devices thermal management. MRS Advances 9, 7–11 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-023-00677-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-023-00677-0