Natural diamonds form deep within the earth’s crust over billions of years. Fortunately, lab-grown diamonds are making their way into the industry and are gaining popularity.
Using a process called Chemical Vapor Deposition, these diamonds are chemically identical to their mined counterparts. They’re also ethically sourced, so you won’t have to worry about contributing to conflict-ridden mining regions.
Cost
CVD diamonds are ethically sourced and cost less than mined diamonds, making them an ideal alternative for budget conscious consumers. Moreover, they come with a greater purity index than mined diamonds.
These diamonds are grown in labs using a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process that imitates how diamonds grow in interstellar gas clouds. They are also more durable than natural diamonds and have a better color saturation.
However, they do contain a range of flaws just like natural diamonds, and are graded by reputable international laboratories on the 4 C’s (Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat Weight). Look for GIA or IGI certified lab-grown diamonds that have undergone post-growth treatments to bring out their true beauty.
Unlike the mined diamond industry, which has an unsavory history of human rights violations and poor working conditions, the lab-grown diamond industry is conflict free. This makes them an attractive option for millennials looking to stand up against the destruction of habitats, armed conflicts and child labor.
Clarity
The clarity of a cvd diamonds depends on the size, nature, number and location of inclusions in the stone. It also relies on how much the blemishes impact the appearance of the diamond.
The best way to determine a diamond’s clarity is to examine it under a microscope. Experts will look at the diamond face-up under 10x magnification to find any internal flaws or surface blemishes.
A diamond with many blemishes will have a lower clarity grade than one with only a few imperfections. Likewise, a blemish that’s deep within the stone will have more of an impact than one that’s just on the surface.
During the pre-commercial years and more recently, GIA has examined CVD samples in colors other than pink (figure A-1). The majority of these samples have been evaluated in recent years, and although several of these were submitted with an Fancy Color grade, they do not appear to be commercially important at present.
Shape
CVD diamonds are a type of lab-created diamond that is created in a controlled environment using plasma technology. The process creates diamonds in a fraction of the time and effort that it takes to produce a naturally mined one, resulting in more affordable jewelry.
The process begins by placing a tiny sliver of diamond known as a seed diamond in a sealed chamber. Then, a carbon-rich mixture of hydrogen and methane is pumped into the chamber.
During this growth stage, the seed diamond undergoes high temperatures and pressures to create diamond crystals. The diamond then grows and becomes larger as more pure carbon is added.
In natural diamonds, these crystals are subjected to intense pressure and display a strain or interference color pattern that ranges from criss-cross to mosaic-shaped. This color pattern is a clear marker that tells scientists that a diamond was formed in the Earth’s deep formation zones.
A CVD lab-created diamond displays a banded strain pattern that doesn’t resemble a natural diamond’s, as well as strong red fluorescence. This makes them difficult to identify by gemologists without special laboratory equipment.
Color
Synthetic diamonds are created through the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process. Essentially, a thin seed crystal is placed in a sealed chamber and flooded with carbon-rich gas, which ionizes and bonds to the seed.
The carbon that’s deposited forms into diamond, and the process is repeated until a desired diamond crystal is formed. It can take up to eight weeks for a synthetic diamond to be created.
During the process, the diamonds may exhibit a brown coloration. This isn’t always a problem, though, as most lab-created diamonds are treated at high temperatures and pressures to remove the brown coloration.
Another issue that’s been known to occur is strain lines, which are created when the diamond lattice mismatches between layers during the CVD process. This creates a fuzzy appearance that is similar to whitish graining in natural diamonds, but it’s not evaluated as part of clarity grading.
The most obvious difference between a lab-created diamond and a natural one is the color. Unlike a natural diamond, which is naturally colorless, most lab-created stones show an unusual blue hue when exposed to UV light.
