RECENT PROGRESS AND APPLICATION OF SYNTHESIZED DIAMOND - (PRESENT STATUS AND FUTURE OF VAPOR-PHASE DEPOSITION OF DIAMOND)

Diamond is known as the most difficult material to machine and a costly material. These have been limited the application of diamonds in a small area. The method to make diamonds from gas phase was reported by Setaka et al. in 1981 and many Japanese successfully developed various methods of diamond deposition. Diamond can essentially be deposited from the mixed gas consisting of hydrogen and methane and the diamonds made by this technique have the same characteristics as II a diamonds which do not contain any impurity elements. The application of diamond films have already started. Tools, speaker diaphragms and X-ray windows are the products used presently. As diamond has many useful characteristics for electrical applications, expectations to use in electric parts and devises are quite common. The development of diamond devices using vapor deposited diamond film has been already begun. For the future application of this technology, improvement of this process for obtaining higher quality films and fabrication by lower cost is required.