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Vladimir Gevorgyan, a chemistry
professor at University of Illinois
at Chicago, will lead the U.S.
effort in a three-nation project to
develop efficient catalytic methods
that replace rare metals with
abundant and inexpensive ones
such as iron and copper. The
project is the result of a
competition sponsored by the
International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemists. With funding
from the National Science
Foundation, Gevorgyan’s lab will
focus on copper, while the German
lab will concentrate on iron. The
Chinese facility will develop
heterogeneous versions of these
catalysts. ,
.
Vladimir Gevorgyan, University
of Illinois at Chicago chemistry
professor. Courtesy of Joshua
Clark.
The Lockheed Martin Space
Systems Advanced Technology
Center (ATC) opened a new state-
of-the-art laboratories building in
Palo Alto, Calif. The 82,000-sq-ft
Advanced Materials & Thermal
Sciences Center will house 130
engineers, scientists, and staff.
The new labs will host advanced
research and development in
emerging technologies such as 3D
printing, energetics, thermal
sciences, nanotechnology,
synthesis, high-temperature
materials, and advanced devices.
.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems
ATC’s new labs building.
New process holds promise for synthetic diamond crystals
Synthetic diamond crystals have unique properties that make
them well suited for applications such as lenses for high-energy laser
optics, x-ray radiation detectors, and ophthalmological scalpels. Sci-
entists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF
in Freiburg, Germany, are now manufacturing high-quality artificial
diamonds in all shapes and sizes.
Researchers are able to produce 3D geometries and discs of differ-
ent diameters and thicknesses by using plasma-enhanced chemical
vapor deposition (CVD), a process by which diamond is chemically
deposited on a substrate from the gas phase. A specially pretreated
silicon or silicon dioxide (silica) substrate is coated with diamond by
means of microwave plasma in an ellipsoidal reactor. Fraunhofer IAF’s
diamond lab contains eight such plasma reactors for growing dia-
monds in both polycrystalline and single-crystal form. Scientists can
determine the orientation of polycrystalline diamond growth by applying small diamond
seed crystals to the substrate before plasma deposition occurs. Single-crystalline diamonds
with a continuous homogenous crystal lattice structure, however, must be grown on a sin-
gle-crystal diamond substrate.
“We use CVD because it allows us to coat larger substrates, unlike other manufactur-
ing processes such as the high pressure, high temperature method. What’s more, this
method will enable us to produce diamonds of high enough quality for use in electronic ap-
plications, and means we can homogeneously deposit diamonds with diameters to 10 cm
on silicon substrates,” explains group manager Nicola Heidrich.
Because diamond is chemically resistant, biocompatible, and able to withstand ex-
treme temperatures, scientists are using it to develop electrochemical sensors that will
in the future enable them to monitor water quality over long periods of time. Diamond
is also an electrical insulator that can be turned into a conductor by adding boron and
phosphorous to it. Researchers are working on ways to exploit its outstanding electronic
properties for use in the high-performance transistors and components based on quan-
tum effects of the future. .
38-tesla magnet debuts
The High Field Magnet Laboratory (HFML) at
Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, set
a world record by generating a 38-tesla continuous
magnetic field in a resistive (non-superconducting)
magnet. The HFML design proves that expensive su-
perconducting coils are not required to achieve 38
tesla, lowering purchasing costs tenfold.
Materials research demands stronger magnets
because higher magnetic fields allow more proper-
ties of important materials to be uncovered and investigated. In a magnetic field of 38 tesla,
certain quantum effects are 100 times stronger than in a field of 33 tesla, which, until now,
was the maximum magnetic field available in the Radboud lab. In 2011, the HFML began
an ambitious project of designing a resistive magnet that would surpass the current world
record of 36 tesla.
“The step from 33 to 38 tesla is significant. We will be able to clarify the properties of
materials faster and more efficiently, and this will provide a major boost to materials inno-
vation and development. Experiments in such high magnetic fields are currently only pos-
sible in the 45 tesla hybrid magnet, a partially superconducting magnet in Tallahassee,
Florida, which is hugely overbooked and cannot satisfy all the demand. With the new mag-
net, we will make magnetic fields of this level available to a larger group of scientists,” says
researcher Uli Zeitler. .
ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • MAY 2014 14
E MERGING T ECHNOLOGY
A high-purity
single-crystal
diamond made at
Fraunhofer IAF.
Magnet coils. Courtesy of Radboud
University Nijmegen.