Scio Diamond

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Technology Briefing


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Investing in technology

Scio Diamond consistently invests in advancing the art and science of lab-grown diamonds. The focus is to build on its innovative technology to continuously increase the quality and quantity of lab-grown diamonds.

Proprietary reactors, where the diamond crystals grow, were researched, designed, developed and continue to improve. The precise operating parameters inside the growth chambers were studied, tested and perfected. The specific chemistry of the plasma contained in the reactors was analyzed, refined and developed into tightly controlled recipes.

As a result, Scio Diamond produces high-quality lab-grown diamonds, applying a unique combination of chemistry, engineering and manufacturing discipline.

The company is focused on constantly improving the technology and production processes to guarantee that high-quality diamonds for jewelry and diamond material for industry are available long after mined diamond sources diminish.

Pioneering diamond technology

Scio Diamond was the first to produce chemical vapor deposition (CVD) single-crystal diamond plates, CVD-grown diamond gems and one-inch square single-crystal diamond wafers.

In addition, Scio Diamond established the relationship between impurities and color in gemstones and optics, wrote computer code enabling automated diamond manufacturing and established quality protocols for diamond growth.

Scio Diamond currently holds 36 U.S. and international patents, providing broad intellectual property protection for our manufacturing processes and substantial future opportunities for the use of diamond for semiconductors, light emitting diodes and laser applications.

Selected Scio Diamond Patents Patent Number
Structures Formed in Diamond 7,122,837
Gallium Nitride Light-Emitting Devices on Diamond 8,129,733
Gallium Nitride Light-Emitting Devices on Diamond 8,435,833
Method of Forming a Waveguide in Diamond 8,058,085
Tunable CVD Diamond Structures 6,858,080
System and Method for Producing Synthetic Diamond 7,258,741
Diamond Heat Sink in a Laser 8,133,320
Method of Forming a Waveguide in Diamond 8,455,278
System and Method for Producing Synthetic Diamond 6,582,513
Method of Growing Single-Crystal Diamond in a Plasma Reactor 8,187,380
Grown Diamond Mosaic Separation 8,048,223
Enhanced Diamond Polishing 7,238,088
Single-Crystal Diamond Electrochemical Electrode 8,591,856
System and Method for Producing Synthetic Diamond 7,789,148
Boron-Doped Single-Crystal Diamond Electrochemical Synthesis Electrode 8,974,599
Method of Forming an N-Type Doped Single-Crystal Diamond 7,459,024
Method of Growing Boron-Doped Single-Crystal Diamond in a Plasma Reactor 7,942,966
A Single-Crystal Diamond Having 12C, 13C, and Phosphorous 7,560,086
Single-Crystal Diamond Tool 7,201,886
Diamond Medical Devices 7,829,377
Boron-Doped Diamond Semiconductor 8,158,455
Gemstone Production from CVD Diamond Plate 8,342,164
Detection of Chemical Vapor Deposition-Grown Diamond 8,134,694
Detection of Chemical Vapor Deposition-Grown Diamond 8,514,377
Retail-Compatible Detection of CVD-Grown Diamond 8,213,000
Retail-Compatible Detection of CVD-Grown Diamond 8,553,208
Carbon Grit 8,641,999

Scio Diamond’s CVD technology


CVD, a chemical process, deposits solid materials onto a surface. The semiconductor industry uses CVD to produce very high quality, high-performance thin films. Other industries select it for microfabrication processes, to deposit materials such as silicon, carbon fiber, fluorocarbons, filaments, tungsten, and titanium nitride. Scio Diamond employs CVD techniques in a proprietary manner to deposit the diamond allotrope of carbon onto a diamond seed substrate.

In our CVD process, a sliver of substrate, a diamond seed, is placed in the growth chamber and is exposed to a plasma. This cloud of excited carbon-rich gases creates a chemical reaction that induces nucleation of the diamond on the surface of the seed. Growing a diamond requires precise control of:

  • atmospheric pressure

  • hydrocarbon, hydrogen and other gas flows

  • temperature

  • other contaminants

Production of a new diamond begins with the diamond seed. The source of this seed can be a mined diamond or one grown through CVD or HPHT technology. The seed provides a crystal lattice blueprint, an attachment point and order for new carbon atoms. It is introduced to the mixture of gasses at controlled, elevated temperatures. The seed is immersed in a high-energy carbon-hydrogen mixture that produces carbon-to-carbon diamond bonds on it. This produces a three-dimensional crystal structure that grows from the seed. This atom-by-atom process continues until operators stop the reaction at the desired thickness.

CVD allows diamonds to be grown with a great deal of control over the properties of the finished stone.

In the early days of CVD, only one seed could be grown at a time, but technology advances in the process and growing reactors enable the platforms to now produce diamonds in large batches.

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