We may have a case of technology triumphing over evil here

[Morgan Evanar]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=

SCREW De Beers. Bring on diamond semiconductors!

[Wei Wu Wei]

I am indeed impressed. Very cool article.

[Crystal]

Cool!! :)

I wondered when we'd be able to make diamons.

And I didn't even know there were yellow diamonds..or any other color. Those look alot more intresting than a clear diamond.

[Sohei]

This could also mean thousands of small jewelers could go out of business... or they could adapt to make semiconductors and then be bought by Philips or IBM :)

[Ryla Relvinian]

Oh man, cool but friggin' scary. Has anyone here read "The Diamond Age"?

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by Sohei
This could also mean thousands of small jewelers could go out of business... or they could adapt to make semiconductors and then be bought by Philips or IBM :) Um, how? De Beers is already screwing them royally.

Edit: Also, if you read the article you'd notice that the diamonds for semiconductors are shaped differently.

[Crystal]

Originally posted by Ryla Relvinian
Oh man, cool but friggin' scary. Has anyone here read "The Diamond Age"?


I saw that laying around in my dad's room a few days ago.. Tempted to read it now,

[Figrin D'an]

There will still be a demand for translucent stones, which for now, is why De Beers will make a huge amount of money. De Beers has been using a microlaser etching system over the past few years to certify their diamonds as real, but we'll see if that continues or if they develop something different.

Making gem quality yellow diamonds synthetically is pretty easy. Getting gem quality white diamonds, especially to get H, G, F or higher color, is a different story. The equipment isn't that good yet, and likely won't be for a while.

Diamond semiconductors would be awesome... maybe someday. I'm not going to hold my breath, though.

[Sohei]

I mean local jewelers, Morg. Y'know, the family operated long-time businesses which rely on quality not quantity?

And the second part was meant as a joke. I did read the article.

[Darth Viscera]

Awesome! Killing two birds with one stone, a monopoly and a silicon barrier. This could fuel a huge lift in the economy for like 2010. Tasty :D