Isotopically pure diamond Isotopically pure diamond An isotopical pure diamond is a type of diamond that is composed entirely of one isotope of carbon. Isotopically pure diamonds have been manufactured from either the more common carbon isotope with mass number 12 (abbreviated as C) or the less common C isotope. Compared to natural diamonds that are composed of a mixture of C and C isotopes, isotopically pure diamonds possess improved characteristics such as increased thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity of diamonds is at a minimum when C and C are in a ratio of 1:1 and reaches a maximum when the composition is 100%
Crystallographic defects in diamond measure the defect concentrations in diamond. In synthetic diamond grown by the high-pressure high-temperature synthesis or chemical vapor deposition, defects with symmetry lower than tetrahedral align to the direction of the growth. Such alignment has also been observed in gallium arsenide and thus is not unique to diamond. Various elemental analyses of diamond reveal a wide range of impurities. They mostly originate, however, from inclusions of foreign materials in diamond, which could be nanometer-small and invisible in an optical microscope. Also, virtually any element can be hammered into diamond by ion implantation. More essential are elements which can be introduced