Photoconductive diamond keys can be used in the power grid to control current and voltage surges
Based on this previous knowledge, the LLNL team explored the properties of synthetic diamonds, which are of superior quality than naturally occurring ones.
“We told ourselves, ‘Let’s take this high-quality CVD diamond and radiate it to see if we can adjust the carrier’s life,'” said Paulius Grivickas, lead author of an article, in a press release.
Grivickas explained that in photoconductive devices, the best combination of conductivity and frequency response is obtained through the introduction of impurities, which control the carrier recombination lifetime. In diamonds, an easy and inexpensive alternative to this approach is electron irradiation, where recombination defects are created by taking the atoms out of the network.
“Finally, we found out which irradiation defect is responsible for the wearer’s life and how the defect behaves under annealing at technologically relevant temperatures”, said the researcher.
Photoconductive diamond keys produced in this way can be used, for example, in the electrical network to control current and voltage surges, which can fry equipment. “Current silicon switches are large and bulky, but diamond-based switches can do the same thing with a device that would fit at the tip of a finger,” said Grivickas.
The scientist pointed out that his findings also have applications in energy distribution systems where there is the possibility of generating megawatt radiofrequency energy, which requires optimization of the high frequency response of diamonds.