Silicon Carbide and Diamond
Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor already widely used for electronic and photonic devices and hosts a number of colour centres.
In and of themselves, diamonds never had any inherent value. Elementally, a lattice of pure carbon —making it the hardest substance on earth, a diamond was not found forever; It was made so.
In its natural habitat —the earth’s core from which it has been torn for decades to create a fantasy for the new world —where everything that glitters is found at the tip of a diamond; the glimmering hunk of carbon has had nothing to offer but a glimpse of vanity. However, post an emerging contemporary renaissance, the erstwhile colonial diamond has been replaced by science and serendipity to create a versatile supermaterial that does not blight humanity’s past, but looks to its future.
With the inevitable merger of the diamond value chain (between mined and lab-grown); in a Frost and Sullivan report titled “Grown diamonds: Unlocking Future of Diamond Industry by 2050”, a microscopic overview is tackling the abstract edges of the diamond industry’s evolving future. A future where lab-grown diamonds are marking their arrival by bridging the demand and supply-chain gap.
Unlike mined diamonds —positioned by cartels and conglomerates as a substance of value owing to their perceived rarity, the nuovo diamond’s created genesis makes it the quicker, more precise and evolved successor to its mined counterparts. Where mined diamonds are rife with opaque supply chains, traceability issues and a long-winded path from raw-to-retail, LGDs (lab-grown diamonds) such as the nuovo diamond, dodge all of these caveats as the created and creative answer to supply chain issues.
The new market economics —spanning employment for cutters, polishers, research personnel, and associated industries supplying downstream necessities, indicate that the industry is going from strength to strength thanks to the LGD revolution. As such, countries largely dependent on the colonial diamond trade can slowly begin to explore more sustainable economic models to gain better ROI versus bearing the brunt of civil wars, conflict diamonds and blood diamonds.
The dawn of the lab-grown nuovo diamond may seem sudden to the unsuspecting observer, but man-made diamonds have been around for decades. However, thanks to the impending 4IR and internet-of-value, the technologies driving sustainable and disruptive production cycles have turned this sci-fi speculation into a commercial reality. A number of unicorns such as the nuovo diamond have entered the gem-quality lab-grown diamond market —a logical move given the sheer potential for game-changing applications within the super-sector. As far as the industrial applications of LGDs like nuovo diamonds go, the inherently stabilized, transparent and informed narrative is what makes for a convincing case for the entire lab-grown industry. Some category truths that have helped this along are:
Truth #1: Diamond mining is expensive and unsustainable. In terms of practice and policies both —the lab-grown, nuovo diamond is more stable due to the nature of its very genesis —a super-controlled laboratory environment that allows reliable, quality controlled and feasible production; at scale.
Truth #2: Nuovo diamond tech symbolises purity and power in an era where impact trumps an age-old agenda —that of a diamond being forever and rare. The modern consumer and entrepreneur —both want sustainable and consistent products at scale; versus the empty and inconsistent vanity of the diamond of yore.
In a 2019 a “Global Diamond Report” by Bain & Company; the mined-diamond supply chain was seen dwindling —with rough diamond demand expected to go down to 25% —a trend that will definitively factor into the mounting mined diamond supply-chain issues. On the other hand, the same report noted that the lab-grown market which directly concerns nuovo diamonds, grew from 15% to 20% in 2019 —re-iterating a similar growth trajectory from 2018.
The report details how the lab-grown segment is seeing rapid growth due to quick and successive technological milestones as well as a ubiquitous, dependable and stable presence within the value chain.
LGDs like the nuovo diamond are gaining popularity for industrial as well as commercial purposes because they are viable to produce, feasible to purchase, and can be manufactured at scale.
Essentially, nuovo diamonds display the same and even superior chemical, optical, thermal and physical conductivity as a mined diamond. Showcasing the same dazzle and fire (a technical term used to describe the specific manner in which a diamond scatters light; similar to a prism), nuovo diamonds like most LGDs are grown to be the rarest diamonds you can buy —their quality outmatching the top 2% of all mined diamonds’
In hindsight, nuovo diamonds —like most LGDs carry the bulk of industry promise when it comes to supply consistency and sustainability. Redefining the idea of not just clean origins, but also a clean legacy, nuovo diamonds are the original conscience keepers for generations to come.
As supermaterials of the future, LGDs are poised to replace silicon within the electronics industry since diamond is pure carbon and a far superior semiconductor than silicone —whether it comes to power tech, electric vehicles or satellites, lab-grown diamonds are changing the game via unimaginable applications.
From the stone age, to bronze, to iron, and now to the age of information —lab-grown diamonds are heralding a new future as the nuovo supermaterial. Where once stone, steel, carbon-fibre and silicon ruled the roost, it is this new forever diamond that’s taking the charge —both physically and metaphysically. Entering the diamond age of humanity, LGDs like the nuovo diamond are going to brighten our planet through consistent development at scale.
With the internet-of-value and a bulk of transactions going virtual within the ever-shifting cyberspace, a robust digital presence will amplify the allure of lab-grown diamonds supplemented by information and awareness.
In terms of direct-to-consumer purchase decisions, there are two factors that matter most when it comes to purchasing diamond jewellery. For someone looking to propose with a wedding ring, the price factor takes precedence, followed by the overall design. For someone looking to buy it for themselves, it is the design that takes precedence, followed by the carat size, then cost. In both cases, the quality of the diamond is last to be factored in —per a survey by Beyond4Cs.
Nuovo diamonds, respond to this requirement very well as they can be customised to create any shape, size, colour and carat weight, consistently within affordable price ranges. It is this price differential between LGDs and mined diamonds that is now leading jewellery designers as well as retailers to lab-grown diamonds. According to the Bain report referenced prior, the lab-grown diamond value chain benefits the fashion jewellery segment significantly as it is more accessible from the consumer perspective in terms of price.
Educated and informed consumers are increasingly switching to LGDs like nuovo diamonds owing to increasing consumer confidence —thus opening up the industry further.
Rather than using intense pressure and heat to replicate the formation of mined diamonds in the earth’s core, the CVD process takes its cue from the way diamonds are formed in interstellar gas clouds — similar to snowflakes. Grown from diamond grafts called seeds —nuovo diamonds, formed in plasma reactors turn into chemically pure, Type IIa diamonds, which are extremely rare in nature. With specialised expertise in repeated growth capability, each nuovo diamond is precision-engineered down to the atom —ensuring production consistency that can be scaled up to produce replicable results.
For example, if a rerun of 900 SKUs of five-carat stones or larger is placed, the same can be crafted over a period of weeks spanning consistent and almost identical batches. The nuovo diamond promise is one of strategic value addition that caters to bespoke, perfect and flawless diamonds in inexhaustible shapes, sizes and colours at scale.
Where both mined and lab-grown diamonds incur the same costs for cutting, polishing, and quality check, mined diamonds pass more hands and thus, have a significantly longer supply-chain —which translates to more cost.
Despite these factors, even if consumer preferences for mined diamonds continue, the number of profitable diamonds in nature is finite and may run out by the year 2050 in the wake of significant supply gaps. In 2019, Bain & Company foresaw an 8% annual decrease in the natural diamond supply accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic —which only goes to show that due to a number of increasing limitations; ultimately, mined diamonds will no longer be viable.
Apart from consistent ecological credentials, the LGD ecosystem which nuovo diamonds are a part of, is also committed to achieving transparent and sustainable supply chains in an economy where demand is often a lot more demand than supply. In a world where continued desire for diamonds grows, LGDs are bridging the gap outside the artificial control of cartels. In that sense, nuovo diamonds offer more competitive prices that cater to fair-trade market values.
With the number of mined carats sold across history running into hundreds of billions of carats, the so-called rarity inherent to mined diamonds has been positioned as a value factor that has dictated the exorbitant prices associated with the diamond value-chain. The same rarity that has been used to justify ecological suffering, armed conflicts, civil wars, inhuman working conditions and inaccessible prices which were artificially controlled by cartels for a long time via supply restriction.
But the truth couldn’t be farther than this. Mined diamonds are not as rare as they are scarce. In comparison to lab-grown diamonds which are available in infinite supply, mined diamonds are simply unsustainable. Additionally, the differential in buying and re-sale prices of mined diamonds is unrealistically high due to the myth surrounding their value and rarity, while LGD prices are market-set and more affordable —making them more accessible.
What began as an experimental innovation, has in a short period of time, achieved gem-quality output —through sustainable and reliable means reliant on technology rather than chance.
The traditional diamond industry has seen little origin control or monitoring over inventory thus, constantly being on the edge of financial and reputation loss as well as liability. Because of misidentified and fraudulent merchandise entering the supply chain, the industry is often critiqued as being incredibly opaque without any certainties of the Kimberley Process being followed throughly. Due to this, conflict diamonds and blood diamonds have successfully infiltrated the market over the years despite policies and protocols to the contrary.
This contradicts the efforts of those within the diamond supply chain who have a common interest: Adding value to the diamond. LGDs rise to this challenge as the emerging alternative to the bulky, muddy and unreliable mined diamonds supply-chain that has been precarious at best, through the decades.
Conversely, nuovo diamonds make available, an unlimited and reliable supply of diamond abrasives and industry tools with a cost of production that is lower compared to mined diamonds yet far more advanced —leading to superior quality gems.
With high-stakes that run into billions, supply-chain transparency is crucial to gauging industry sustainability. In the case of LGDs, this is a given. Nuovo diamonds, unlike mined diamonds, create a demand and supply balance through traceability across producers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and designers. They address each of these aspects positively while continuing to find solutions that tackle every stage in the supply chain.
Within a few decades, lab-grown diamonds have become pure enough and large enough to be used in a variety of high-tech applications via commercial quantities featuring spectacular clarity and colour. Consequently, the tailor-made precision of the nuovo diamond process ensures that chance surrenders to quality in the service of a diamond that is versatile across super-sectors.
One of the pivotal super-materials driving the human condition, nuovo diamonds could potentially reign as the missing link between high-performance appliances and commercial applications at scale. In the near future, diamond-based devices have the potential to diminish our planetary footprint to a significant extent.
While the world is only now waking up to LGDs as a gateway to the 4IR future, nuovo diamonds are poised to supplant the active components of numerous staples within modern society whether it be the touchable screen, circuit board or internal infrastructure. Deep into the future, LGDS will be the canvas upon which future technology and the internet-of-value will be built.
For all intents and purposes, even the device on which this article will be read; was probably brought together by lab-grown diamond technology. Thus, it is amply clear that LGDs like the nuovo diamond are not just an option, but the only path to consistent progress.
Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor already widely used for electronic and photonic devices and hosts a number of colour centres.
Why the physical & chemical properties of wide bandgap semiconductors —silicon carbide & diamond are ideal for device fabrication, for application in many different areas
- Growth of diamond–SiC composite layers - Detailed composition and mechanical properties study - Enhanced scratch resistivity of layers
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