Sinmat Inc — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: Diamond crystals with small total thickness variation (TTV) and local thickness variation

Description

Diamond crystals with small total thickness variation (TTV) and local thickness variation (LTV) values are needed for position sensitive fast particle detectors for particle tracking/timing, and detecting direct/indirect beams. The fabrication of ultra-flat, low surface defectivity diamond detectors represents a major technological challenge. Although current commercial technology can produce 100m thick, high quality diamond crystals, the current state-of-the-art polishing methods are unable to polish diamond crystals with low thickness variation (typically lesser than few microns). Sinmat has developed a novel reactive chemical mechanical polishing (RCMP) process to polish, planarized, and flatten diamond crystal surfaces that are needed for manufacturing ultra-flat, low surface defectivity diamond detectors. By combining this process with special engineered sample holders, ultra-low TTV and LTV surfaces can be fabricated (with TTV lesser than 1 micron). Commercial Application and Other Benefits: The ability to achieve ultra-flat and defect free diamond crystals will be very beneficial for several applications in the fields of nuclear instrumentation, nuclear radiators, x-ray optics, and next generation electronics. Such devices will help in improving detection systems, instrumentation, and various techniques used in nuclear physics. Such engineered ultra-smooth diamond substrates could also be used for heat dissipation in silicon based electronics