Federal agency name: defense advanced research projects agency (DARPA), defense sciences office (DSO) funding opportunity title: young faculty award (YFA) funding opportunity number:…

The Department of the Interior Departmental Offices Interior Business Center awarded a $500,000 cooperative agreement to the University of Wisconsin System (University of Wisconsin - Madison) on September 30, 2025, under the Young Faculty Award program (CFDA 12.910, Research and Technology Development).

The award funds research on advanced diamond epitaxy and synthesis. The project leverages Principal Investigator Jacobberger's expertise in carbon nanomaterial synthesis devices and state-of-the-art reactors to demonstrate a new paradigm for diamond film production. The work aims to prove that the approach yields films with unprecedented combinations of crystallinity, large area, and exceptional properties even on non-lattice-matched substrates, and to harness these materials to realize high-performance devices. The research targets applications in military technologies including surveillance, communication, navigation, electronic warfare, and chemical and biological sensing.

The period of performance runs from the award date through September 29, 2027. Work is performed in Wisconsin.

Federal agency name: defense advanced research projects agency (DARPA), defense sciences office (DSO) funding opportunity title: young faculty award (YFA) funding opportunity number: DARPARA2501CATALOG of federal domestic assistance (cfda) number(s): 12.910 research and technology developmentprogram description: DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the areas of interest to the following DARPA technical offices: defense sciences office (DSO), information innovation office (I2O), microsystems technology office (MTO), and the tactical technology office (TTO). Further detail regarding the specific technical areas of interest can be found below under open office topics. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.objectives: PI jacobbergers expertise in carbon nanomaterial synthesis devices and his state-of-the-art reactors for producing dsls will be leveraged to demonstrate this new paradigm for diamond epitaxy, prove that our approach yields films with an unprecedented combination of crystallinity, large area, and exceptional propertieseven on non-lattice-matched substratesand harness these materials to realize high-performance devices. Milestones. The quantitative targeted metrics and methods used to characterize each metric are provided in the schedule and milestones section and are discussed further below in this proposal. Impact. This project will transform military technologies, such as surveillance, communication, navigation, electronic warfare, and (BIO)chemical sensing, as detailed in the executive summary.new approaches to produce diamond films are required to develop diamond technologies. Despite diamonds immense technological promise, progress has been inhibited by the inability to produce large-area, single-crystal films with low defect density.13,8,9,2033 growing such films on non-lattice-matched surfaces to create heterostructures has also not been possible because, among other reasons, the lattice mismatch is too large for epitaxy of single-crystal diamond.homoepitaxy of diamond on hpht diamond via mpcvd yields high-quality films, but the films have prohibitively small area ( 10 MM) because of the limited size of hpht diamond. Larger substrates (6040 MM2) can be created via the mosaic method, where dozens of cloned diamond tiles are merged into one larger substrate via lateral overgrowth,34,35 but the defect density in the merged areas is high. Homoepitaxial films are also generally very expensive due to the high cost of hpht diamond and the multiple complex processing steps involved in the mosaic method.alternately, heteroepitaxy of diamond on non-diamond substrates via mpcvd enables large-area (100 MM) films, but the film quality is far inferior (i.e., riddled with dislocations, point defects, and cracks). State-of-the-art films grown on IR substrates (e.g., IR YSZ SI) have dislocation densities (108-1010 CM-2) much larger than those (104-106 CM-2) in homoepitaxial films.36 the high dislocation density severely degrades device PERFORMANCE37,38 and prevents the use of such films in applications. The epitaxial templates are to blame, as defects form due to mismatch of the templates lattice, thermal expansion, and surface energy with those of diamond. Heteroepitaxial films are also expensive because of the high cost of IR substrates