Part 4:
Forced Diffusion Diamond Process
Rhombic Corporation holds Patent #5,597,762, covering the "Forced Diffusion"
diamond technology and which was issued January 28th, 1997. The United States
Patent Office received Rhombic's diamond patent application September 27th, 1994.
Rhombic Corporation's doped negative type (N-type) diamond technology, often
referred to as forced diffusion, has been successfully etched in a former Soviet
Republic laboratory to create two functional integrated circuits. This breakthrough by
Rhombic in successfully diffusing different elements into diamond film produces a
diamond with electronic properties greatly superior to those of silicon, the material
now used to make computer chips. This proprietary technology is theoretically so
powerful that a computer chip now one inch square can conceivably be reproduced on
the head of a pin, and operate hundreds of times faster than silicon. In addition, such
N-type films are considerably more resistant to heat and radiation than silicon,
extending indefinitely the life of electronic circuitry. This means not only ultra fast
integrated circuits and chips, but also diamond diodes and switches, resulting in a
complete revolution of today's computers. This is cutting edge, and projected by the
company to be ready to go in 6 - 8 months.
This technology will have a broad impact on the existing diamond film market,
currently about $100 million and growing at a projected rate of 10 percent per year.
Applications range from computer and TV screens to diamond tools and coatings for
high-fidelity speakers. The total market for cutting tools worldwide in 1991 was $250
million, of which $102 million was diamond material. The projected sales of diamond
electronics, currently about $6 million a year,is expected to reach $500 million by the
year 2000. This market is by far the most dynamic in the diamond film industry.
Rhombic Corporation has established ties with an International company, and is
working on an agreement to dope white mined diamond with boron to see if the
properties of the more economical white diamond can be modified to match that of
mined blue diamond. In addition, Rhombic is pursuing agreements with other
companies to develop applications based on material modification by the addition of
impurities. The market for boron-doped diamond film for the first year is projected to
be in excess of $30 million, with markets exploited by Drukker, DeBeers of Europe,
and Norton Diamond of the United States.
Nanophase diamond powders are a new material that was developed for the Russian
military program. It is a diamond powder made up of very small pieces of diamond
with a narrow distribution of sizes about four nanometers in diameter. Rhombic is
developing a process to press and bind the nanophase diamond powder to form a
hard material. The forced diffusion process can change the mechanical properties of
diamond grit by boron doping, making the grit 10 to 15 percent harder than ordinary
diamond grit. The market for diamond grit is approximately $70 million a year.
With the release of the Patent "Field Enhanced Diffusion Using Optical Activation",
Rhombic Corporation is preparing to establish its first manufacturing/laboratory site at
Columbia, Missouri, to produce Positive (P) type diamond film, and to finalize the
development of Negative (N) type diamond. |
