Editor’s Note
This article explores the sophisticated process behind lab-grown diamonds, detailing how technology replicates natural conditions to create sustainable gems. As the industry evolves, it raises important questions about innovation, ethics, and the future of luxury.
A worker carefully places several cleaned, square-shaped seed crystals, each about 0.3 millimeters thick, onto the sample stage of the equipment. After the equipment is started, an appropriate process gas is introduced into the vacuum chamber where the seed crystals are located. Under the action of microwaves and other plasmas, methane is decomposed into carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms.
Liu Yin, General Manager of Chengdu Huayu Microwave Technology Co., Ltd., explained that under the “meticulous care” of the staff, a crystal with a length and width of 7 millimeters grows into a diamond rough weighing about 4 carats in just 15 days. After processes like laser cutting and polishing by the staff, a high-quality 1-carat lab-grown diamond is “grown”.
During the “growth” process of the seed crystal, staff observe the growth situation through the vacuum chamber’s viewing window and monitor the technical parameters of the production equipment at any time.
Liu Yin said that seed crystals of different sizes and deposition times produce diamond roughs of different sizes.
The cultivation process of lab-grown diamonds is a precise and fascinating technological advancement. Placing the diamond seed into a cultivation chamber, using methods like microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition, allows the seed to gradually grow into a flawless diamond. This process may take several weeks, and the final cultivated diamond possesses the same physical and chemical properties as diamonds formed underground, including hardness, refractive index, and optical characteristics.
In Liu Yin’s view, the issue of inward volume currently existing in the superhard materials industry is essentially a problem of insufficient innovation.
In the future, Chengdu Huayu Microwave will focus on the overall innovation layout of the industrial chain, conducting detailed considerations for strengthening the layout at the front, middle, and back ends of the industrial chain.
