Synthetic Diamond: Emerging CVD Science and Technology

The hardest known material and the premiere thermal conductor at room temperature, diamond resists heat, acid, and radiation, is a good electrical insulator but can be doped to form p- and n- type semiconductors, and has the highest known figure of merit for power semiconductor applications. Diamond is transparent to both visible and infrared radiation and has a small dielectric constant. Though long recognized, most of these superior properties of diamond have remained largely unexploited because diamond did not exist in a form suitable for many high-tech applications. Now chemical vapor deposition (CVD) makes diamond, and its high-performance properties, available in thin sheets or coatings, which can cover large areas in a variety of unique shapes. In this form, diamond is also the ultimate in protective coatings. The coming of age of the diamond CVD process may, therefore, prove to be the most important development in industrial technology since the semiconductor. Synthetic Diamond explores the quantum leap in technological capability and industrial and commercial potential made possible by CVD. Beginning with a vision of a 21st century revolutionized by products made with CVD diamond, the text goes on to trace the origins and emergence of the process and to review the current scientific and technological status of the new CVD techniques. There is also a survey of the synthesis, structure, properties, and applications of diamond-like carbon. A fundamental description and extended review of the properties and characterization of diamond is followed by an in-depth look at current and potential applications for synthetic diamond, as well as a comparative economic assessment of the CVDprocess and the traditional high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) process. The book concludes with another vision of the future, this time a look at potential CVD diamond markets of the 21st century. The first comprehensive book devoted to CVD diamond, Synthetic Diamond will be of immense interest to professionals and students in materials science, solid state physics, inorganic and physical chemistry, electrochemistry, electronics, and optics. It offers electrical, mechanical, and materials engineers, as well as new product developers a tantalizing first glance at a major new development that even now, sparkles on the industrial horizon.