One of the greatest fundamental challenges of microchip fabrication is temperature control, and traditional methods are showing greatly diminishing returns as we advance into the 2020s and beyond. Those keeping a close eye on the tech sphere can already see this happening with slowing advances on GPU and especially CPU architecture, but manufacturers have been pondering this issue for much longer and are working on new solutions, like synthetic diamond and purified glass!
To be more specific, the WSJ recently spoke to various executives and employees from Diamond Foundry and Intel, who are both tackling this problem in different ways.
Both of these developments seem quite promising, though we maybe shouldn't look at Diamond Foundry as the only potential provider of diamond-based chips in the future. Even WSJ lists other companies providing their own easier-to-synthesize polycrystalline wafers, like Coherent or Element Six. Element Six even offers yet larger diamonds.
As we move further into a new decade, the next great turn in hardware manufacturing might be just around the corner. Using synthetic diamond and purified glass properly, we may even be able to create a future with semiconductors that don't require any silicon at all...at least according to Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Only time will tell!
