 Through a newly-discovered process known as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), synthetic diamond company Gemesis has now created gem-sized diamonds in a vacuum chamber. While lab-grown diamonds will never hold the same mystique as natural diamonds, they will easily change the face of technology as we know it. The first synthetic diamond took over five year to create. Now it can be done in a matter of days. CVD involves heating the vacuum chamber to temperatures up to 2000 Celsius, adding methane and hydrogen, and using microwave radiation. Starting with a “seed diamond”, the molecules attach themselves to the carbon that makes up the seed diamond. As more and more of the gas molecules connect, the diamond grows larger and larger. Because the process is in a completely controlled environment and the spaces between the molecules are virtually nonexistent, the diamonds grown are entirely without impurities and flaws, making them at least 50% stronger than natural diamonds. Each of the Super Diamonds is laser-marked, so they don’t find their way onto the natural diamond market, glutting it with flawless diamonds. Industrial diamonds originally found a place in the mining and drilling industries. Stones that were not good enough to be cut for jewelry were used to create stronger, sharper, and longer lasting drill-bits and blades. With Super Diamonds, the applications are limitless and extremely cost-effective. A Super Diamond, theoretically so strong that it can cut a regular diamond (previously the hardest substance known), can be used to make mining equipment that is not only virtually indestructible, but also has the capacity to conduct heat, allowing drills and blades to cut through almost anything like a hot knife through butter. Silicon chips automatically shut off when they are heated beyond a certain temperature. Super Diamonds, on the other hand, are not affected by heat. Computers will be able to operate more quickly and under more severe conditions. All mobile phones and hand-held devices will become faster, stronger, and cheaper because of this innovation. Light, when refracted through diamond, naturally slows down. Controlling the speed of light is a technological advancement that few have dared to dream. One can only imagine where that can lead. In the meantime, advancing computer chip technology to this degree is amazing enough. While Gemesis, based in Florida, has been incredibly successful with the creation of synthetic diamonds, other labs have not come quite as far, though they are trying. In South Africa, a lab has been able to create lab-grown diamonds, they are still very small. Soon, however, the technology will be worldwide, forever changing the way we look at diamonds.
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