From Lab to Industry: Unlocking the Potential of Synthetic Diamond with HiQuTe Diamond
Synthetic Diamond for Tomorrow’s Technologies: An Interview with Florent Alzetto, CEO of HiQuTe
Diamond’s physical properties are opening up new possibilities across a range of fields, from power electronics to quantum technologies and sensing, with the potential to improve energy efficiency while addressing a key issue for Europe: technological sovereignty. However, several technological and industrial hurdles still need to be overcome before these applications can scale.
Florent Alzetto, CEO of HiQuTe, a spin-off from the LSPM-CNRS laboratory, discusses the potential of this material and the challenges involved in bringing it to industrial scale.
A Material with Exceptional Properties
Diamond’s potential lies first and foremost in its unique combination of physical properties.
Its thermal conductivity—five times higher than copper and more than ten times higher than silicon—allows it to dissipate heat extremely efficiently. Its wide bandgap, five times that of silicon, also offers the potential to outperform materials currently used in certain applications, particularly power electronics. Its ability to withstand very high voltages makes it possible to design thinner components with lower electrical resistance, reducing the amount of energy lost as heat during power conversion.
These characteristics are complemented by diamond’s quantum properties at room temperature. In quantum applications, they can reduce cooling requirements and enable the development of more compact devices.
In practical terms, the industrial diamond produced by HiQuTe comes in the form of very thin plates, similar in appearance to small glass slides. Current dimensions are around 20 × 20 mm, with a thickness of less than one millimetre.
Turning Diamond into an Industrial Material
Ten years ago, diamond’s performance was still largely confined to the laboratory, with high production costs and only a handful of industrial players worldwide. Since then, dozens of startups across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific have developed applications based on its properties—from magnetometry and chip imaging to quantum computing—bringing new products to market, increasing sales and, in some cases, reaching profitability.
For HiQuTe, the challenge now is to reduce costs, increase production volumes and prepare for the developments required by future applications, particularly in semiconductors, where Florent Alzetto is targeting commercialisation within approximately five years.
One of the main technological hurdles is the size of the plates. To eventually address the electronics market, the goal is to reach at least 5 cm for manufacturers’ R&D requirements, followed by 10 cm to move into production.
“Size is the key challenge. Without that, there will be no diamond-based power electronics.” explains Florent Alzetto, CEO of HiQuTe.
Scaling up also presents significant industrial challenges: these plates, which will remain extremely thin, must be capable of being handled, cut, polished and shaped to meet customers’ requirements.
What Diamond Can Already Enable
In sensing applications, some HiQuTe customers are developing sensors capable of measuring magnetic fields at the nanotesla scale. This level of precision can, for example, be used to measure variations in the Earth’s magnetic field for highly accurate positioning.
In semiconductor foundries, these technologies can also help locate leakage or certain defects in chips, improving both yield and production throughput.
Diamond also holds significant potential for quantum computing. Its properties at room temperature could enable compact quantum accelerators, potentially integrated into larger systems.
“The advantage of diamond is miniaturisation. We can operate at room temperature, which means we don’t need large cooling systems.” explains Florent Alzetto.
Building a Strategic Industrial Ecosystem
“Diamond took ten years to move out of the laboratory. The next 10 years will determine whether it becomes an industrial material like silicon, and whether Europe can master the technology.”
For Florent Alzetto, developing diamond technology is also a matter of sovereignty. Given Europe’s dependence on imports of materials such as silicon and gallium, diamond could provide an alternative material produced in France using methane and electricity.
Its properties could also reduce the amount of energy required to deliver the same level of performance, particularly in communications infrastructure and electric vehicles. For the latter, Florent Alzetto estimates that energy consumption could potentially be reduced by around 10%.
Achieving this trajectory will also require collaboration with other players, particularly for certain stages such as cutting and shaping the plates, as well as continued investment to support further technological development.
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