Element Six, a member of the De Beers Group of Companies, has expanded its global manufacturing capabilities for microwave chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthetic diamond by 60 percent over last year. The announcement was made at Semicon West 2013 in San Francisco this week. Driven by growth in its semiconductor and optical business segments, Element Six has ramped up production capacity at its facilities in Silicon Valley and Ascot, England, to meet the demand for thermal management solutions, including gallium nitride (GaN)-on-diamond substrates and high-power-resistant optical windows for EUV lithography systems. Earlier this year, the company announced that it had boosted production levels of synthetic diamond wafers by 50 percent (See: Element Six Boosts Synthetic Diamond Production). “Our bookings have seen a 30 percent increase in compound annual growth over the last two years, and we attribute the majority of our expansion to new applications in the semiconductor market,” said Adrian Wilson, head of the technologies division at Element Six. “We are seeing more interest from packaging designers and manufacturers as the industry comes to recognize the numerous properties and benefits of synthetic diamond.” Key areas of production supported at the built-out sides include CVD diamond thermal material that delivers a >20° temperature decrease, quadrupling a device’s lifetime; synthetic diamond optical windows that reduce system downtime and improve wafer throughput; and GaN-on-diamond wafers that enable rapid, efficient heat extraction, lower operating temperature and overall system level costs, and increase the power of radio-frequency devices. Element Six also has opened a state-of-the-art Global Innovation Centre in Harwell, England, to design, manufacture and test market-ready solutions in one location. For more information, visit: www.e6.com