Diamond Semiconductor Plant Completed in Northeastern Japan

Okuma, Fukushima Pref., May 29 (Jiji Press)–A ceremony was held Friday to mark the completion of a diamond semiconductor factory in the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. The new facility is the world’s first to mass-produce diamond semiconductors, according to Ookuma Diamond Device Co., a startup based in Sapporo, Hokkaido, northern Japan, which runs the plant. The plant aims to kick off full-scale operations in fiscal 2028, with an aim to produce diamond chips for devices to be used in work to decommission reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The power plant experienced a triple meltdown following the March 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami. The town of Okuma is one of the two host municipalities of the plant. Diamond chips can withstand high levels of radiation because they use high-purity synthetic diamonds made from methane gas and other ingredients as substrates, so they are expected to be used in work to remove melted nuclear fuel debris from the Fukushima No. 1 plant reactors. Diamond chips are superior to semiconductors using silicon substrates, which are currently the mainstream, also in terms of power efficiency and durability against high temperatures. The new chip plant will have a capacity to manufacture hundreds of thousands of diamond semiconductors per year, with about 20 people expected to be employed this fiscal year. Ookuma Diamond Device plans to hire more local residents in the future. The company was established in 2022 mainly by officials from Hokkaido University and the Japanese government-affiliated National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, or AIST, as part of a national project to utilize diamond semiconductors for nuclear reactor decommissioning work. It is also eyeing the possible use of diamond semiconductors in the space sector. Ookuma Diamond Device CEO Naohisa Hoshikawa said, “We hope to realize a story in which we accomplish decommissioning and the technologies used in the process create a new era.” In Japan, research and development for practical use of diamond semiconductors started in the 1980s. Diamond chips are also said to be indispensable for the development of next-generation mobile communication formats called “Beyond 5G.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]