Method for contact diffusion of impurities into diamond and other crystalline structures and products

摘要

A low free energy method for more rapidly diffusing an impurity into a diamond or other crystalline element in powdered or granular form (2), without degradation of the crystalline structure. The present method includes the steps of providing a mixture of the diamond or other crystalline element and the impurity in a solid phase; treating the mixture (3) to bring the impurity into substantially conforming contact with substantially all of the outer surface of the crystalline element; and heating the mixture (3) to a temperature between about 200 DEG C and about 2000 DEG C. As another aspect of the present invention, a diamond is disclosed having an impurity diffused into the crystalline structure thereof at a ratio of from about 0.1 part of the impurity per 1 million parts of the diamond to about 600 parts of the impurity per 1 million parts of the diamond.