Cubic boron nitride is a super hard material with a lot of potential as a semiconductor.
“Cubic boron nitride ends up being predicted to be even better than everything else we know today,” says Siddha Pimputkar, assistant professor of materials science and engineering. “So I kind of joke it's the holy grail material because the intrinsic properties are such that if we can grow this material and develop it into a device, it should outperform every other material system.”
To date, however, no one has figured out how to grow the material in a scalable way. But Siddha and his team are developing a novel approach that could change that.
In this episode, he explains the promise of cubic boron nitride, the historical roadblocks to growing it, and how his method could potentially revolutionize the electronics and energy industries.