Diamond growth in oxygen-acetylene flame

What was supposed to be a laboratory curiosity in the 80's, in recent years the low pressure process for the production of man-made diamond turned out to be a major target for research and development of many high-tech companies. The main reason for such an interest stems on the possibility of coating many materials with a diamond film possessing the same amazing properties of the bulk natural diamond. Polycrystalline diamond film has been deposited on Mo substrate by using oxygen-acetylene flame of a welding torch. The substrate temperature has been held constant about 700deg C by means of a water cooled mount designed properly. Precision flowmeters have been used to control the flow ratio oxygen/acetylene, a key parameter for the success in diamond growth. Diamond has been detected by X-ray diffraction, a fast foolproof technique for crystal identification. Another method of analysis often used in Raman spectroscopy, which is able to exhibit amorphous structure besides crystalline phase. (author)