标题: Better, Faster Way to Grow Synthetic Diamonds? [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 11-16-2015 16:29 标题: Better, Faster Way to Grow Synthetic Diamonds? John Markoff (translated by 读者 Molly Wu), 让穷学生能买得起钻石的新技术. 纽约时报中文网, Nov 16, 2015 http://cn.nytimes.com/readers-tr ... /c16diamond-reader/
, which is translated from
John Markoff, Cut, Color, Clarity, Creativity; Silicon Valley startup repurposes its technology to make diamonds. New York Time, Nov 12, 2015.
Quote:
"The first synthetic diamond processes appeared in the early 1950s * * * But the Diamond Foundry claims [on Nov 11] to have made proprietary breakthroughs that will make it possible to manufacture high quality [100% pure, IIa] diamonds more quickly [150 times faster than the prevalent methods] and cost effectively than existing technologies.
"The Diamond Foundry, based in San Carlos, Calif, is not the first company to try to use the technique, known as chemical vapor deposition, to grow diamonds by depositing layers of carbon atoms in an intense plasma field.
“The process begins with a very thin slice of natural diamond as a substrate and then increases the size of the original diamond material by adding more layers of atoms.
Note:
(a) San Carlos, California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Carlos,_California
("In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá[, a Spaniard,] was the first westerner to reach the San Francisco Bay. * * * t was believed that Portolá had first seen the San Francisco Bay on November 4 from the San Carlos hills. November 4 is the feast day of St Charles. As well, the Spanish king at the time was Carlos III, and the first ship to sail into San Francisco bay was the San Carlos")
(b) Our Story. Diamond Foundry, undated https://www.diamondfoundry.com/about/
("We developed a way to culture diamonds. * * * we built novel plasma reactors with hundreds of individually precision-engineered parts. Then, we formed plasma as hot as the outer layer of the sun. * * * Most simply, we discovered a plasma by which we can attach atoms to an earth-extracted diamond and grow it in size. One by one, the atoms stack on top of a thin slice of earth diamond and extend its unique crystal structure. Layer by layer, it grows into a pure, cultured, jewelry-grade diamond of larger size. (We then slice off and reuse the original any number of times)")
In the same website, the company boasts, under the tab "Our Diamonds" in the top horizontal bar: "Not even trained gemologists can tell a difference.
(c) You are entitled to be skeptical. The startup does not disclose anything about its technology. Besides, judging from (b), the methodology to make diamonds is a far cry from that used ("making silicon chips and solar cells") in its previous incarnation. Hence it is not "repurpose."