What are CVD Diamonds and HPHT Diamonds?

The lab-grown diamond and gemstone industry has been growing since 2010. The innovation of growing diamonds in a laboratory began in 1954 and onwards, but the quality and composition aren’t that close to that of real natural diamonds. However, at present, CVD (Lab-grown Diamonds) can be grown with properties that are no different from real natural diamonds, making it more popular and in demand. Currently, there are two well-known methods of growing diamonds in the laboratory:

• Diamond CVD (CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION) is a process of producing diamonds in a vacuum machine. The process starts off by placing a starting tray called SEED inside and then introducing methane gas. Using heat at a temperature of 700-1,000 degrees, a liquid is used to separate the hydrogen molecules and release carbon into the SEED, resulting in diamond crystals. The CVD process takes less time than HPHT, producing approximately 1 millimeter per 1 hour.
     You can set the crystal size to your preference, as small or large as desired. The CVD Lab-grown Diamonds have the same properties as real diamonds in every aspect, including chemistry, physicality, color, cleanliness, blemishes, and so are sometimes called real artificial diamonds.

•  Phachara HPHT (HIGH PRESSURE HIGH TEMPERATURE) was invented in America around the year B.E. 1995. Later, its significance grew in many countries, such as Africa and Russia, using the principle of applying a huge amount of pressure, approximately 100,000 ATM, at a temperature of 1,000-4,000 degrees in order to align the distances of the atoms closer and create an arrangement of crystals. It takes about a week for the crystals to form into Diamonds. During the growing process, iron is used to reduce the melting point. Therefore, there may be iron minerals mixed in the Diamond.

If viewed with the naked eye, the tiny inclusions of iron minerals could be mistaken for carbon crystals. At this point, thorough inspection of the Diamond is conducted by using a magnet to separate the HPHT Diamond from the real Diamond.

Both types of Diamonds are different from imitation Diamonds or what are commonly called fake Diamonds. Examples are Russian Diamonds (CZ) and Moissanite, which are similar to real Diamonds, but the difference can be seen with the naked eye or a general binocular. This is different from CVD and HPHT which have the same physical, chemical and durable properties as natural Diamonds.

These Diamonds are grown in a laboratory by scientists in a Diamond formation simulator. Currently, there are two well-known methods of production:
ㆍChemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)
ㆍHigh Pressure High Temperature (HPHT)
It has the same physical, chemical and optical properties as natural Diamonds mined from the ground.