From engagement rings to supercomputers, China’s massive lab-grown diamonds could transform the global race in computing
The crystals were created by Zhu Jiaqi and his team at HIT’s School of Astronautics, employing a method that could, in principle, produce high-purity, single-crystal diamonds in virtually any shape and size – from bridal jewelry to a wafer as broad as a basketball.
Referred to as microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD), this technique generates carbon atoms within an exceptionally clean environment, building them up layer by layer onto a diamond seed crystal.
As chip performance becomes increasingly limited by the fundamental physical challenge of heat management, a series of advances in growing large single-crystal diamonds might provide China with an unforeseen edge in next-generation AI hardware.