Silicon is so not sparkly these days. . .

Well, we've been using Silicon for a long time now - relatively speaking. It's been used in semiconductors from day one, so if anything is in need of a swap-out, it's hard to go past.

So, the Japanese government has invested $6 million

Well, we've been using Silicon for a long time now - relatively speaking. It's been used in semiconductors from day one, so if anything is in need of a swap-out, it's hard to go past.

So, the Japanese government has invested $6 million this year in order to speed up and improve current research in using diamonds as a chip base, under the guidance of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation.

That's terrific. Really. Forget costs for the moment (if that's at all possible), and think about the thermal and electrical advantages. Diamond chips can withstand 1,000C temperatures, compared to the paltry 150C we see today with Silicon. Also, the electrical resistance of diamond is around 200V, while Silicon provides 20V.

What this means is faster speeds, lower operating temperatures, and of course, more expensive semiconductors.

So if you though a $1,000+ P4 3.06GHz was wallet disembowelling, then even thinking about these suckers probably isn't a great idea.

The use of diamond electrodes will also increase the lifespan of many devices. At the moment though, we won't be seeing any of these chips. Like all emerging technologies, we'll have to wait for the manufacturing and theoretical problems to be ironed out - artificial diamonds are harder to make than Silicon (obviously), and manufactured diamond currently has too many impurities to work effectively as a chip base.

In fact, don't expect this technology for another twenty years. Sorry to get your hopes up.