Written by T.C. | Posted in Jewelry

Diamond is the hardest substance available on the earth. It is an allotrope of carbon, which means, diamond is made up of pure carbon, but has different molecular structure and different physical properties. Natural diamond is formed more than 100 miles beneath the surface of the earth. The very high temperature and pressure inside the earth makes the carbon atoms to unite with a strong chemical bond and hence diamond has the highest hardness and superior physical properties. The rarity of the natural diamond makes it very expensive and that has prompted scientists to find an alternative to the natural diamond.

Synthetic diamond that is made in the factories mimic the natural diamond and it is difficult for common people to differentiate between natural and synthetic diamond. However, a trained jeweler can distinguish between artificial and natural diamond by looking at the growth pattern and absence of inclusions in the synthetic diamond. The great demand for synthetic diamond has led many companies to produce synthetic diamond. Today, diamonds are made in 2 different ways. The first one is known as high pressure high temperature technique, wherein scientists create high pressure, high temperature environment that exactly mimics the core of the earth. The method of making HPHT diamonds is quite resource intensive, so scientists have found another sophisticated process to make diamond, known as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition).

In CVD, a diamond seed is placed in a temperature and pressure controlled chamber. This seed is treated with gases like hydrogen an methane. The heating elements in the chamber break down the gases and cause ‘carbon rain ‘ on the diamond seed. When the ‘carbon rain’ falls on the seed, atoms start growing in the similar pattern as the seed.

Even though making diamond looks like a simple process, it is a highly complicated process that requires controlled environment and proper chemistry. Today, CVD is mainly used to make diamond coatings. However, scientists have achieved success in making gems of few millimeter using this process.

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