(May 12, 2015) Synthetic
diamond is almost exclusively being used in industrial applications. So far,
man-made diamonds could not be produced in quantities high enough to establish
them as gemstones. Researchers have now developed the production process of
synthetic diamond to such a mature stage, that it is possible to grow 600
diamonds at one time in a plasma reactor. This globally unique reactor type
operated at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in
Freiburg facilitates the production of single crystalline diamond with an
extremely high level of purity.
"Diamonds are a girl’s best friend" – ever since
Carol Channing sang these lines in 1949, nothing has changed. Diamond as a
gemstone in jewelry is highly popular – especially in the USA, China and
Europe. In five years, the demand for raw diamond is even expected to exceed
the offer, says a study of Bain & Company and the Antwerp World Diamond
Centre, which was published in March 2015. Synthetic diamond could enrich the
market in future and form an alternative to the natural resource. While the complexity
of the production process for the so-called man-made diamonds has previously
been criticized, researchers from Fraunhofer IAF now present a novel method
facilitating the serial production of single crystalline diamond.