[Diamonds] De Beers, Gemesis, Apollo, and the future of computing...

phatcat · Aug 12, 2003

Just read a GREAT article about Diamonds and the future of computer technology

The New Diamond Age
Armed with inexpensive, mass-produced gems, two startups are launching an assault on the De Beers cartel.
Next up: the computing industry.

By Joshua Davis

David Clugston
Yellow diamonds manufactured by Gemesis, the first company to market gem-quality synthetic stones. The largest grow to 3 carats.

How to Make a Diamond

The Gemesis Way:
High pressure, high temperature. Crystal is created in a chamber that mimics geologic conditions.

Giacomo Marchesi
Ceramic growth chamber

1. Place metal solvents and graphite in ceramic growth chamber. Insert diamond seed at bottom of chamber and put chamber in center of compression sphere.

2. Force oil into top layer of sphere, creating pressure against steel anvils. Increasing pressure is transferred through anvils and onto growth chamber. Even with minimal pressure at surface, force at center reaches 58,000 atmospheres.
3. Turn on juice. Current wired to one end of ceramic chamber raises temperature to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat and pressure cause graphite - pure carbon - to atomize. Freed carbon drawn to cooler end of chamber bonds to diamond seed, crystallizing layer by layer.

Giacomo Marchesi
Carbon Atoms
4. Wait three days.

Giacomo Marchesi
5. Open machine. Smash growth chamber, pull out stone. Cut and polish to make sparkling diamond gem.

The Apollo Way
Chemical vapor deposition. Crystal is formed when a plasma cloud rains carbon onto diamond wafers.
1. Place diamond wafers on pedestal. Depressurize chamber to one-tenth of an atmosphere.
2. Inject hydrogen, natural gas (CH4) into chamber. Heat with microwave beam. At 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, electrons separate from nuclei, forming plasma.

Giacomo Marchesi
3. Let it rain. Freed carbon precipitates out of plasma cloud and is deposited on wafer seeds.
4. Let it grow. Wafer seeds gradually become diamond minibricks, building up at half a millimeter a day.

Giacomo Marchesi
5. Open chamber and remove diamond brick. Slice into wafers for semiconductors or cut and polish to make gems.

Swarthy_Foreskin · Aug 12, 2003

I just read this in the latest wired. It's actually the cover story and very interesting. Plus the cover image is sexy.

DRT-Maverick · Aug 12, 2003

How do they turn the wafers of diamond into semiconductors? I mean, what shape, what procedure?

phatcat · Aug 12, 2003

they introduce channels of positive and negativly charged boron to create the circuits while the diamond is formed.

Kray · Aug 13, 2003

Great article phatcat! Thanks for sharing. :tup:

iridium · Aug 13, 2003

yah, was up all night reading about this on wired.. very cool stuff. or hot stuff. might be a while before we see it in actual circuits though..

DeDpoet|BuF · Aug 13, 2003

diamond semiconductor processors run hot eh? I'm thinking cooling and heat dissipation. what do you do when your USB connection melts?

sounds very cool though. I also like how the reference was made "soon we wil have Intel diamond processors." yes, Intel of course - who else?

Zarkazm · Aug 13, 2003

Cool! I want a CPU necklace!

Lynz` · Aug 13, 2003

hmm... hope this don't come soon.

i want my diamond jewellery brought... not made. especially the ring :mwink:

.altan · Aug 13, 2003

Now watch the prices of computers jump sky-high

Gundato · Aug 13, 2003

lynz, i am sure that they will still sell real diamonds, probably just at a much higher rate

and that is a nice article

Zarkazm · Aug 13, 2003

one_gundam_war said:
lynz, i am sure that they will still sell real diamonds, probably just at a much higher rate

How would the price of natural diamonds rise after it's possible to produce nearly perfect artificial diamonds now?

phatcat · Aug 13, 2003

it really make it hard

the Gemesis diamons are very close to natural diamon growth, but have slight flaws, while Apollo diamons are far to perfect to be natural. Natural diamons would be VERY hard to destinguish, and would really hurt the de Beers company/mob/warlords greatly.

Gundato · Aug 13, 2003

Zarkazm said:
How would the price of natural diamonds rise after it's possible to produce nearly perfect artificial diamonds now?

then you just go "authentic natural diamonds" and bam, more cash.

Chipstick · Aug 13, 2003

one_gundam_war said:
then you just go "authentic natural diamonds" and bam, more cash.

Wait until you can utilise these ones

LifeGem

Then we can all have a ghost in the machine.

I can get cheap diamonds @ manufacters prices

phatcat · Aug 13, 2003

wow that would be awsome!!

I can imagine Geeks selling their remains to their favorite microprocessor company to be used in chips!

iridium · Aug 13, 2003

Bwahah

phatcat · Aug 13, 2003

or you could do a soylent green scenario.

Soylent Chips are made of PEOPLE!!!!!!!

Sam_The_Man · Aug 13, 2003

one_gundam_war said:
then you just go "authentic natural diamonds" and bam, more cash.

Not really, they're already as 'authentic' as they can be. What artificial, mass-produced diamonds would do would be to reduce the price of low-carat diamonds, thus making them more attractive, and thus forcing the manufacturers of higher-carat diamonds to reduce their prices, otherwise they lose business to low-carat diamonds.

Zarkazm · Aug 13, 2003

one_gundam_war said:
then you just go "authentic natural diamonds" and bam, more cash.

I think you misunderstand the situation. The producers of artificial diamonds very much intend to sell them cheaper than natural ones. If they sold them at the same price, people wouldn't feel stronly compelled to buy them.

So there will be "cheap" artificial diamonds and expensive natural diamonds on the market. Do you seriously want to tell me in that situation it'd be a good idea to raise the price for natural diamonds, and increase the gap? And neither does anyone else.

Sam_The_Man said:
Not really, they're already as 'authentic' as they can be. What artificial, mass-produced diamonds would do would be to reduce the price of low-carat diamonds, thus making them more attractive, and thus forcing the manufacturers of higher-carat diamonds to reduce their prices, otherwise they lose business to low-carat diamonds.

Hmm, I'm not sure about that Karat thing. I think the Karat value of a natural and artificial diamond of the same size is also the same. But of course with smaller brilliants that are used en masse it's not as relevant if they are natural or artificial as with a big 3 Karat stone in the middle of a wedding ring. Of course, the argument "people who really love each other buy the real thing" is just shameless. I can imagine some very creative uses of mass produced large diamonds. I think they can even colour them at will. That'd be awesome. I want a diamond ring. No, not a ring with a diamond in it.

And as it has been mentioned before, those Apollo diamonds are practically not to distinguish from the real thing unless you really look for it. I don't think the modern labs would perform such an extensive search at the current price. That means they'd charge more for making sure a diamond isn't an Apollo, and since only diamonds above a certain size a sent in for certification already, only really large diamonds would be worth certifying they are definitelly natural. And how much are people willing to pay for a natural diamond over an artificial one? Most people... not too much.

[Diamonds] De Beers, Gemesis, Apollo, and the future of computing...

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