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Integrated circuits are a key strategic emerging industry for the country and a focal point in the technological competition between China and the United States. In recent years, with the rapid development of electronic device performance, efficiently conducting the heat generated by integrated circuit chips (such as CPUs and GPUs) has become extremely important for ensuring the continuous, stable, and smooth operation of systems. The silicon-dominated semiconductor field faces bottlenecks under conditions of high power density, high frequency, high temperature, and high radiation. Therefore, developing heat dissipation materials with high thermal conductivity has become a current research hotspot.

In May 2024, Huanghe Whirlwind successfully developed CVD polycrystalline diamond heat sink plates. This product has a diameter of 2 inches, a thickness of 0.3 to 1 mm, and a thermal conductivity greater than 2000 W/m·K, reaching the theoretical thermal conductivity value of diamond. After double-sided polishing, the surface roughness is Ra < 4 nm, and the warpage is less than 2 μm, outperforming similar foreign products and achieving a leading level.

Diamond possesses excellent thermal conductivity, extremely high electron mobility, and outstanding physical properties such as high pressure resistance, high-frequency performance, low cost, and high-temperature resistance, making it the material with the highest thermal conductivity in nature. Compared to semiconductor materials like Si, SiC, and GaN, diamond has many advantages; for example, its thermal conductivity can reach 2200 W/m·K, which is more than ten times that of Si materials. Compared to GaN, diamond has higher carrier mobility and breakdown electric field, making it an excellent heat sink material. From the comparison of various material research results, both single-crystal diamond and polycrystalline diamond films have thermal conductivities far exceeding those of other substrate materials. Therefore, using single-crystal or polycrystalline diamond films as heat sink materials to enhance the heat dissipation capability of semiconductor devices is widely recognized as one of the future heat dissipation solutions.

On November 11, 2024, Huanghe Whirlwind and the Xiamen University Sabendong Institute of Micronano Science and Technology established a joint laboratory for integrated circuit thermal control, focusing on the chip cooling challenges in the fields of 5G/6G, AI, and phased array radar. They will conduct innovative research on integrated heat dissipation applications based on diamond materials. The polycrystalline diamond heat sink plates provided by Huanghe Whirlwind will offer solid and reliable support for breakthroughs in the “Research and Demonstration Application of Diamond Materials for Integrated Circuits” project established in the joint laboratory.

In May 2023, Huanghe Whirlwind launched a project aimed at developing CVD polycrystalline diamond films for high-end application scenarios. They established a clean laboratory capable of stably growing polycrystalline diamond films, equipped with various facilities required for the operation of MPCVD equipment, and designed a unique structure suitable for the growth of polycrystalline diamond films. They overcame multiple technical challenges related to the stable operation of CVD polycrystalline films for heat sink applications, including growth process design and optimization, substrate peeling, warping and cracking during the processing of large-diameter diamond films, and polishing efficiency and quality.

As a functional material, the thermal, optical, electrical, and quantum properties of diamond are continuously being developed. Thermal management materials, optical materials, mechanical and acoustic materials, and semiconductor materials based on diamond applications have significant advantages and enormous development potential, playing an important role in modern high-tech fields and the defense industry, and are becoming a new hotspot in international competition. Based on this, diamond semiconductors are considered a promising new type of semiconductor material, hailed by the industry as the “ultimate semiconductor material.”

Next, Huanghe Whirlwind will develop 3-inch diameter and optical-grade CVD polycrystalline diamond films and establish a CVD polycrystalline diamond testing center to promote the application of CVD diamond films in thermal, optical, electrical, acoustic, and electrochemical fields.”

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