High-power question - Will diamonds be the next GaAs?

It is shown that, due to the outstanding properties of diamond material, diamond technology offers much promise for microwave power generation. For example, diamond exhibits high dielectric breakdown voltage (10 to the 7th V, 50 times that of conventional semiconductors such as GaAs), high thermal conductivity (20 W/cm per C, which is about four times that of Cu), a low dielectric constant (5.5, half that of GaAs), and high saturated carrier velocity (2.7 times that of GaAs, Si, or InP). Moreover, unlike GaAs, Si, or InP, the saturated carrier velocity of diamond maintains its high rate in electric fields of increasing intensity. However, the process of growing pure thin-film material is still at experimental stages. The approaches used in growing diamond by the laboratories in the U.S, USSR, and Japan are discussed.