Element Six unveils copper-diamond composite for advanced thermal management

The big picture: Element Six has introduced a copper-plated diamond composite material designed to address increasing thermal management challenges in advanced semiconductor devices. By lowering temperatures, some chips could be fed more voltage and be pushed to run even faster.

Synthetic diamond specialist Element Six, part of the De Beers Group (think diamond jewelry), said more than half of all electronic device failures today are heat-related. And considering that data centers are expected to account for 10 percent of the total US power demand by 2029, thermal management is becoming an ever-pressing matter.

This is where E6's Cu-diamond composite comes into play. According to the company, its thermal conductivity is in the 800 W/mk range – about twice as high as copper, but not quite as high as diamond on its own. Diamond, as you may know, is the leading thermally conductive material with conductivity values that are about ...