The new carbon forms in the scientific instrumentation

Applications in the development of scientific instrumentation of some of the new forms of carbon are discussed in this work. A short revision is presented of the remaining technical problems of the applications of diamond thin films as active semiconductor elements; heat sinks; X-ray, UV and particle detectors; surface acoustic wave devices, etc. Some advances in the improvement of the surface quality and textural design of diamond films are also presented. On the other hand, the possible implications of carbon nano tubes in scientific instrumentation are also discussed mainly for the development of electronic nano devices. Finally, other promising applications of carbon nano tubes as nano tips for atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes, as well as nano-host structures for the synthesis of metallic carbide and nitride nano wires are also presented. (Author)