Diamond CPUs (not a joke)

Mephistopheles

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This is an interesting one... These guys can grow big diamonds. Diamonds have exceptional thermal conductivity... So, it is theoretically possible to use diamonds to create diamond CPUs that will endure operation at much higher temperatures than current CPUs will.

The link:<A HREF="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=" target="_new">The New Diamond Age</A>!!

<i>So, Intel: See? Prescott should have been made out of diamond wafers!</i>
Today's speedy microprocessors run hot - at upwards of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, they can't go much faster without failing. Diamond microchips, on the other hand, could handle much higher temperatures, allowing them to run at speeds that would liquefy ordinary silicon. But manufacturers have been loath even to consider using the precious material, because it has never been possible to produce large diamond wafers affordably.
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Mephistopheles

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Yeah, this one is hot!!

But I've got a cool one here: <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/02/11/HNeden_1.html" target="_new">Via's CPU line</A> now has 1Ghz processors dissipating some 7W. This is less than 10 times what a typical Intel/AMD CPU dissipates (much less than prescott, heh)... Now <b><font color=blue>that's cool!</b></font color=blue>

Unfortunately, though, it's so cool that its performance levels will probably make you think the whole damned processor is frozen... (or at least, it'll not perform well...)

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AnnihilatorX

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Though diamond can handle excessive temperature of 3500 degrees, making it is a poor conductor of heat, and electricity. It has also no semiconducting properties.
 

Whisper

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But I've got a cool one here: Via's CPU line now has 1Ghz processors dissipating some 7W. This is less than 10 times what a typical Intel/AMD CPU dissipates (much less than prescott, heh)... Now that's cool!
Intel's Pentium-M at 1.1 GHz also only dissipates 12 Watt. Ok that's nearly double but it has a 1 MB cache compared to the VIA's 64 kB cache. Still a nice achievement that's very useful for really small laptops of course, and the Pentium-M low-voltage probably costs a lot more.
 

Whisper

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Though diamond can handle excessive temperature of 3500 degrees, making it is a poor conductor of heat, and electricity. It has also no semiconducting properties.
I've heard the opposite: <A HREF="http://www.eetimes.com/at/hpm/news/OEG20030822S0005" target="_new">NTT verifies diamond semiconductor operation at 81 GHz</A>.
 

coylter

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in 5 years:

-No you should not overclock that Amd 45000+ At more than 34ghz , because you will go over 430C.
-But Amd say that their chip support 400C
-Yea but you will shorten the life of your cpu
-Hoh i see.....heuu should i put a fan on my stock heatsink then?


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CaptainNemo

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all very interesting - I'm just glad that the DeBeers pseudobusiness is on the verge of extinction.

If a tree falls on coop, but noone is there to hear it - do less people rejoice?
 

Whisper

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uhh, hardly any metal melts at such a "low" temp..
Well, I looked it up and aluminium melts at 660 degrees. But it already starts to become easily deformable at 470 degrees. Either way it's not healthy to have such metal at high temperatures for a very long time. You're literally burning it and it slowly sublimates.

Which reminds me... what would they do with the interconnections? If it's aluminium or copper it definitely won't withstand these temperatures for long. These 'wires' are so tiny that any heavy temperature fluctuation could just vaporize, break or deform them.

Hmm, nanotubes...
 
They can add positively or negatively charge boron to the diamond as it's being made... that was the key.

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cdpage

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perhaps it will not ever reach such tempuratures to worry about it

at what temp would you think the interconnets could tollerate safely, a few hundred anyhow...what ever style of heat disapator is used it would likely be able to keep it all cool enough.

that is a rather funny out look on the future THGC conversations.

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jihiggs

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i think at 430c your desk would combust. and your case would be too hot to touch, let alone put a plastic media into it. i dont think 430c is what they had in mind, i bet they were thinking more along the lines of 100c, thats still pretty damn hot.

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phial

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Though diamond can handle excessive temperature of 3500 degrees, making it is a poor conductor of heat, and electricity. It has also no semiconducting properties.


diamond is pure carbon

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silverpig

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Diamond is a semiconductor, and an EXCELLENT conductor of heat (much better than even copper).

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Whisper

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i think at 430c your desk would combust. and your case would be too hot to touch, let alone put a plastic media into it. i dont think 430c is what they had in mind, i bet they were thinking more along the lines of 100c, thats still pretty damn hot.
These chips would probably only be a few square millimeter in size. It's like having a cigarette lighter in your case, nothing to really worry about if you can keep the other components shielded. Even if it's bigger than that, much still depends on the cooling method, and it might even work passively with a small heatsink. Free convection improves linearly with temperature difference. So the hotter the chip is allowed to be, the more effective it becomes at actually loosing its heat.

A bit similar, my girlfriend will be experimenting with sonoluminescence this semester. She will produce temperatures close to a million degrees in water. That's no problem at all since it's focussed on just a minuscule gas bubble, and the surrounding water won't even boil!

So, whenever we talk about temperatures it's very important to mention at what scale it happens. Actually it's more useful to talk about the amount of Watts dissipated.
 

Causeican

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At higher temperature diamonds behavioural properties become like those of silicon, cant remember what the exact temperatures are, (and too lazy to go back and look it up).

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cdpage

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thats what i figured...it'd be so small heat build up would not be a problem for other eliments inside the case.

So the hotter the chip is allowed to be, the more effective it becomes at actually loosing its heat.
i didn't realy think about it that way before but that makes sence too...sorta like driving a car 100Km/h (60mph) and taking you foot off the gas you will slow down 50Km/h(30mph)to 50km/h(30mph)in say 10 seconds, but if you were doing 150km/h(90mph)it would only take 5 seconds to drop down to 100km/h(60mph)

the faster or hotter something is the steapper the curve is back to nutral


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Crashman

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I've read about that before. But that's not the only way to make diamonds, in fact it's probably not the most practicle for making wafers!

A LONG time ago someone figured out how to make a diamond film on a plastic lense. This idea is probably already in use for making scratch resistant sun glasses at the high end of that business.

The problem is, the film is only microscopicly thin. Not good for making stones, but PERFECT for making wafers (just build up several layers of the diamond film on a substrate).

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cdpage

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ooo wow realy? thats seems more promising

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flamethrower205

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O no!! One of my good friends works with sonoluminescence and u just had to mention it hehe. Where she working at (please don't say RPI...)
They using water? I thought it'd be more like acetone....
Anyway, best of luck to her getting her experiment underway, that shite gets annoyingly touchy so u have to be real precise for it to work...

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