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U.S. Department of Energy
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High average power switching in diamond

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7368634
 [1];  [2]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
  2. Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)

Diamond has many properties which make it ideal for a high power solid-state switch. The crystal structure of diamond is relatively well characterized. It is a semiconductor with a band-gap of 5.5 eV at 300[degree]K. The high band-gap of diamond results in a small dark current compared to Si or GaAs. As a result the breakdown field or holding voltage is very high, 1--10 MV/cm. The electron and hole mobility are approximately 2000 cm[sup 2]/v-sec. At room temperature, diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any solid, 20 W/[degree]K -cm, about five times that of copper. This is ideal for switching because heat dissipation and thermal runaway problems are greatly mitigated. Our switch concept uses a low current (

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
7368634
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JC-109612; CONF-920671--16; ON: DE93015109
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English