II-VI Advances Diamond Platform, Electronics Sector Presence

II-VI has formed a collaboration with Element Six, a provider of synthetic diamonds and superhard materials, to expand the Pittsburgh-based engineered materials and optoelectronic components company’s diamond platform. Through the collaboration, II-VI is licensing from Element Six its intellectual property and equipment necessary to produce high-quality, single-crystal diamond.

The agreement will enable II-VI to use Element Six’s single-diamond crystal technology to develop applications in telecommunications via 6G wireless components and emerging applications in the life sciences, thermal management, and quantum computing.

Launched in September, Element Six’s commercial CVD quantum-grade diamond, DNV-B14, supports quantum sensing technologies including solid-state gyroscopes. Courtesy of Element Six.

These applications, as well as applications of advanced power and radio frequency electronics, are expected to drive the adoption of single-crystal diamond — a material well known for its strong optical, mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, though it is challenging to manufacture.

II-VI’s portfolio of diamond products includes transparent windows and optics, thermal management solutions, microwave transparent optics, machining solutions, and nuclear detector solutions. The company produces polycrystalline chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond substrates, growing the material through a plasma-assisted CVD process.

Element Six material solutions are used in applications such as cutting, grinding, drilling, shearing, and polishing. In September, it launched the commercial CVD quantum-grade diamond DNV-B14. The material supports quantum sensing technologies, including solid-state gyroscopes, and room-temperature masers.

In addition to the newly formed collaboration with Element Six, II-VI announced on Feb. 1 that it qualified its 1200-V silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET platform to automotive standards, and expanded its relationship with GE via a three-year technology access agreement with GE Research. The agreement will grant II-VI access to the lab’s SiC module technology.

“This qualification represents an important milestone that allows us to begin ramping up our commercial activities for devices in the industrial motor and renewable energy markets, while in parallel, initiating longer-term design-in activities in the electric vehicle market,” said Sohail Khan, executive vice president of new ventures and wide-bandgap electronics technologies.