What is CVD diamond?
A. In most respects, CVD diamond exhitbits the extreme chemical and physical properties of natural and high pressure / high temperature (HP/HT) synthetic diamond: It is essentially pure carbon with no binder phase. However, formed as intergrown diamond microcrystallites, CVD diamond is a truly polycrystalline material with a grain structure and rather than a fixed growth habit it has a degree of orientation or “texture”. As is the case with many materials grown with thin-film technology, the grains in this CVD diamond grow from small nuclei which intergrow as they become larger and the layer becomes thicker giving it a columnar structure. A scanning Electron Microscope picture of the cross-section of a 2.3mm thick optical grade CVD diamond layer CVD diamond is chemically inert, has outstanding thermal conductivity and excellent abrasion resistance. Depending on the synthesis process used, CVD diamond can be engineered to give a range of diamond materials which enable new technologies a
