The Diamond Transistor: A New Era of Semiconductors

In a strategic collaboration with Stanford University, Diamond Foundry is pioneering the development of transistors that utilize diamond as the primary semiconductor material. These ALL-DIAMOND MOSFETs are engineered to achieve switching speeds approximately 50x faster than current standards.

Gloved hand holding a diamond wafer patterned with transistor devices

The Innovation: Surface Transfer Doping

Unlike traditional semiconductor fabrication, these devices utilize surface transfer doping. This method allows for the induction of charge carriers ~~without the need for substitutional dopant atoms~~ to be embedded into the bulk crystal.

How it Works: The Physics

As detailed in the DF Paper in IEEE: On the Conduction Mechanism in Diamond 2-Dimensional Hole Gas Field Effect Transistors:

When the surface of a single-crystal diamond wafer is terminated with an atomic layer of hydrogen, its electron affinity becomes negative. This allows electrons to migrate from the diamond valence band to suitable acceptor species (such as engineered surface layers or adsorbates) located at the surface.

Mathematically, this shift in electron affinity $\chi$ enables the transition: $\text{Valence Band} \rightarrow \text{Surface Acceptors}$

This process results in the creation of a high-density 2DHG (two-dimensional hole gas) restricted to a few nanometers from the surface. This creates p-type conductivity while maintaining the diamond's:

Intrinsic Purity
Thermal Conductivity
Breakdown Strength

All-diamond transistors use surface transfer doping to induce charge carriers without introducing substitutional dopant atoms into the bulk crystal.

Process Flow

Performance and Applications

By eliminating ion implantation and lattice substitution, Diamond Foundry avoids the carrier scattering and defect generation typical of conventional doping. This makes the technology ideal for:

High-Power Electronics
High-Frequency Systems
Radiation-Hardened Platforms

Microscope close-up of a diamond transistor device

Benchmarking against Silicon

DF's current devices have reached a milestone in efficiency, specifically regarding the subthreshold swing.

Feature	Traditional 3nm Silicon	DF Diamond Transistor
Subthreshold Swing	State-of-the-art	Matching Performance
Switching Speed	Standard	$\approx 50\times$ Faster
Doping Method	Substitutional	Surface Transfer

DF diamond transistor devices now match state-of-the-art 3 nm silicon in subthreshold swing.

Ecosystem and Roadmap

Diamond Foundry provides the essential diamond substrates to various R&D organizations currently building the next generation of diamond-based transistors.

DF diamond transistor devices now match state-of-the-art 3 nm silicon in subthreshold swing.

Navigation & Resources

Explore Substrates
Review DF Tech Stack
Analyze DF Operations
Read DF Insights

Learn more about the innovations

Company Milestones

The following timeline highlights recent breakthroughs and expansions:

Nov 25, 2025: Expansion of manufacturing with a new $2.77B fab located in Spain.
Nov 4, 2023: Featured in the Wall Street Journal regarding diamond's role in accelerating microchips.
Oct 2, 2023: Announcement of the world's first single-crystal diamond wafer.

{
  "company": "Diamond Foundry",
  "product": "Diamond Transistor",
  "key_metric": "50x switching speed",
  "partnership": "Stanford University"
}