Lab Grown Diamonds

How are Lab Grown Diamonds made?

There are essentially two different methods used to grow LGDs. These methods are called CVD & HPHT.

CVD
Under this technique a diamond substrate is placed inside a chamber and the chamber is infused with carbon rich gases (like methane).It is then subjected to high levels of heat until the carbon atoms from the gases start to disintegrate and fall on the diamonvd substrate.The raining of carbon atoms layer by layer on the diamond substrate gives birth to a rough lgd.This entire process takes between 4 – 10 weeks depending upon the infrastructure in the laboratory. Some modified versions of CVD that are being used these days are,
-Plasma enhanced (PE CVD)
-Low pressure (LP CVD)
-Ultra high vaccum (UHV CVD)
-Microwave-Plasma (MP CVD)

HPHT
This technique replicates the environment found beneath the earth’s crust to grow lab grown diamonds. Here a “Growth Cell” is placed inside the HPHT chamber.The growth cell consists of a seed,refined graphite and a catalyst mixture of metals & powders.This chamber is heated to 1200-1300 degree celsius and pressure is applied upto 50,000 atmospheres (temperature & pressures found inside the earth’s crust).These specifiactions lead to the growth of a rough diamond inside the chamber.