sp3 Diamond Technologies,
Inc. (sp3), a leading supplier of diamond products, equipment and services,
and Stellar Industries Corp. (Stellar), specializing in thermal management materials
and metallization, today announced the availability of new, turnkey metalized
diamond heat spreading segments that enable precise critical edges combined
with reliable bonding for edge-emitting laser diodes. These new segments have
thermal conductivities in excess of 1200 W/mK while delivering the reliability
and manufacturability necessary to achieve widespread adoption of diamond heat
spreaders in edge-emitting laser diodes. The metalized diamond segments have
been shipped to a US-based laser diode manufacturer.
"Diamond is an ideal material to address the extreme thermal management
requirements of edge-emitting laser diodes," stated Dwain Aidala, president
and COO of sp3 Diamond Technologies. "Historically, achieving a precise
cut to allow for close mounting and finding appropriate metallization materials
have been the limiting factors inhibiting broad adoption of diamond heat spreaders
for laser diodes. Together with Stellar, we have overcome all of these obstacles
and have brought to market a cost-effective solution that represents a significant
advance in thermal management capabilities for these devices."
The heat spreaders developed jointly by sp3 and Stellar deliver three critical
advantages to laser diode manufacturers. First, sp3's diamond snapstrate approach
delivers a clean edge that enables optical alignment of the laser with no optical
blockage. Second, patterned metallization is performed on a partially cut coupon
to ensure top to bottom electrical isolation. Third, Stellar has developed a
gold-tin solder process for the metallization step that successfully manages
stress, is highly compliant with laser diode manufacturing procedures and allows
the segments to maintain the best available thermal path.
"The potential benefits of diamond as a thermal management material are
clear," said Ron Visser, president of Stellar Industries. "Our background
in matching metallization processes with thermal management materials enabled
us to collaborate with sp3 to identify the ideal metallization to allow the
mass commercialization of a diamond heat-spreading solution. Our gold tin and
thin film metal combination is an ideal solution for matching CTE's and bonding
directly to diamond."
The two companies worked together to develop this new, market-ready solution.
To manufacture the segments, sp3 grows CVD diamond coupons, and then uses its
in-house Bettonville 5XS IR Nd: YAG (TEM 00) laser to partially cut the coupon,
prior to metallization. The laser technology is key to the new offering, because
it is capable of near vertical (< 1 degree) cuts, delivering the clean edge.
The partially cut coupons are then metalized using Stellar's gold-tin material
which offers a compliant solder approach that minimizes the coefficient of thermal
expansion (CTE) stresses between the laser diode and the diamond. Metalizing
the partially cut coupons ensures that the top and bottom of the segments are
electrically isolated, and once it is complete, the segments are "snapped"
out of the coupon, thereby maintaining the electrical isolation and producing
the precision edge required by the diode's optical path.
sp3 Diamond Technologies, Inc.
sp3 Diamond Technologies provides diamond-based solutions for electronics thermal
management and enhanced cutting surfaces to companies worldwide, across a broad
spectrum of industries. By supplying wafer-scale diamond-on-substrate product
and services utilizing nano- and micro-crystalline diamond morphology, sp3 is
expanding the commercial reach of CVD diamond.
sp3 understands diamond and manufacturing equipment, as well as the cost, reliability
and quality needs of its customers. In addition to running CVD diamond manufacturing
fabs, sp3 is unique in offering hot filament CVD reactors so customers can manufacture
their own CVD diamond in-house.
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA, sp3 Diamond
Technologies is a subsidiary of sp3 Inc., a privately-owned, full service provider
of products and services relating to thin-film and thick-film diamond deposition
and other polycrystalline diamond materials. sp3 Inc. and its operational units
have deposited diamond on over one million cutting tools and completed more
than 15,000 successful diamond deposition runs.