Abstract
The idea to grow diamond from the gas phase was born in the 1950s but it took about 30 years until first diamond layers directly grown from the gas phase on substrates were shown in Japan by Matsumoto and co-workers. During the first years of research the function of atomic hydrogen, various growth methods and process parameters were investigated. Research was primarily focused on applications for wear-resistant tools. For this topic the interactions of substrates like hardmetals and ceramics, with diamond deposition gas atmosphere, were investigated. Beside its superior hardness, diamond exhibits the highest heat conductivity, high transparency, high chemical inertness and suitable semiconducting properties. The various requirements for the areas of application of diamond required a division of diamond research into corresponding sub-areas. The hot-filament method is used mainly for wear applications, because it is highly suited to coat complex geometries, but the diamond contains some impurities. Another method is the microwave plasma system which allows the growth of pure diamond used for optical windows and applications requiring high thermal conductivity. Other research areas investigated include doped diamond for microelectronic or electrochemical applications (e.g. waste water treatment); ballas (polycrystalline, spherical diamond), NCD (nanocrystalline diamond) and UNCD (ultra-nanocrystalline diamond) for wear applications.It should be noted that CVD (chemical vapour deposition) diamond synthesis has reached the stage of industrial production and several companies are selling different diamond products. This work is intended to convey to the reader that CVD diamond is an industrially manufactured product that can be used in many ways. With correspondingly low costs for this diamond, new innovative applications appear possible.
Highlights
Diamond synthesis was a miracle of nature for hundreds of years until scientists at GE (General Electric Company) succeeded in high-temperature high-pressure (HPHT) synthesis of diamond in 1954 [1]
This synthesis follows the rules of thermodynamics, and process parameters of diamond growth are located in the region of diamond stability
In principle the requirements for low-pressure diamond growth were known at this time
Summary
ChemTexts (2021) 7:10 hardness, Weissmantel called these coatings “diamondlike carbon” (DLC) [15,16,17,18,19]. Papers about the characterisation of the diamonds and other deposition methods were published [22, 23]. Since it is impossible from a thermodynamic point of view to produce diamond under low-pressure conditions, it was unbelievable for chemists at the time that such a process is possible. In July 1985, the first diamond crystals were grown in Vienna (Fig. 1) [25,26,27]. Their presence was confirmed by Raman measurements. By combination of pyrolysis and etching with atomic hydrogen, diamond can be grown directly. Later computer simulations were used to try to explain diamond growth and the role of at.H [38]
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