Thinking about Diamond
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Thinking about Diamond A. Marshall Stoneham London Centre for Nanotechnology, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCL, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom ABSTRACT Diamond is valued mainly as a symbol of power and value (the girl’s best friend) and as a solution to many materials processing problems (the engineer’s best friend). The 1950s saw both striking developments in diamond synthesis and the beginnings of the rise of silicon as the semiconductor of choice. Since then, silicon has transformed the world. Diamond has reinforced its known roles, and found niches that exploit its special qualities. It is also one of the carbon materials that, in combination, have a variety of superb properties. Could there be bigger opportunities for diamond, more than mere niches, arising from the major social needs: the life sciences, the information technologies, energy, and perhaps others. I attempt to identify areas that might develop formidably.
STATUS DIAMONDS AND WORKING DIAMONDS Diamond has created legends and it has created industries. Its special properties have also spawned what can legitimately be called a wealth of niche applications. Here I ask the question: will we see more new major applications, ones that create new legends or transform an industry? Today, there are just two ways in which diamond is unique and dominant: the status diamond, and the working diamond. Status diamonds are symbols of power. Their beauty, rarity and cost limits ownership. When Kings, Queens, Emperors and Presidents are crowned, it is diamond, more than rich gold and rubies, that hints most effectively at power and continuity of tradition. Even a model who wears a special stone for a few minutes feels pivileged by the transient sense of ownership. The status diamond will be expensively set and worn by the richest people. Working diamonds are entirely different. The stones and their mountings are chosen for economy and effectiveness. Even before the industrial revolution, Diderot’s 1751 Encyclopaedia showed a tradition for diamonds as tools, with many diverse applications for these working diamonds. Even small and ugly diamonds have value.Their mechanical properties dominate, with significant niche applications such as thermal sinks. The major applications for diamond thus exploit only a fraction of diamond’s special properties: visual for status diamonds, and mechanical for working diamonds. Could there be other major applications, perhaps exploiting different diamond properties? The materials developments of the last 50 years include silicon becoming the semiconductor of choice, many new and better-developed polymers, and the transformation of communications by silica-based optical fibres. Diamond has been synthesised. Could it have new, major, radical opportunities?
ON DIAMOND’S FUTURE Diamond is already a very successful material, a source of power and an object of beauty. Its mechanical properties still win through because of diamond’s impressive performance and diamond’s track record that is tough for
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