Diamond’s remarkable properties have been demonstrated in the lab, but commercial use faces obstacles in scalability, integration, and cost. Unlike silicon or SiC, diamond requires new approaches across the value chain – from growth to doping, metallization, and packaging.

In the near term, diamond’s key role is as a passive thermal management layer. GaN-on-diamond architectures leverage its exceptional thermal conductivity to improve heat dissipation and reliability in RF and high-frequency devices (Isberg et al., 2013).

Active devices – Schottky diodes, MOSFETs, and field-effect transistors – have been built, but the absence of efficient n-type doping prevents full CMOS circuits (Umezawa et al., 2023). For now, diamond suits unipolar or hybrid designs, particularly vertical devices capitalizing on its high breakdown field.

Processing challenges persist. Wafer uniformity, defect control, and precise surface finishing remain key hurdles. Metrology for detecting subsurface defects is still developing, and scaling to larger wafer sizes demands both material innovation and refined process control.

Research groups and industrial consortia are advancing automated polishing, closed-loop feedback, and hybrid chemo-mechanical techniques adapted to diamond’s unique wear behavior (Chicot et al., 2024). These innovations are enabling early wafer-scale prototyping.

Ultimately, diamond’s future depends on integrating into existing semiconductor ecosystems without requiring complete process overhauls. Like SiC, it will likely evolve through steady improvements in substrate quality, automation, and packaging—driven by expertise in ultra-hard material processing.